Red Eyes
by FrostLight64
Summary: Their journey has reached its bitter end. Their worlds have been shattered by what was never supposed to exist. Divided but united at once, a group of tortured, isolated Smashers and their companions will have no choice but to fight back and destroy the very things that brought them to life: their minds. Post-SSBB, post-MGS4, contains questionable themes and violence.
1. Ashes

**A/N: Hey, I'm glad you hopped on by. However, please don't expect an author's note every chapter. ****Thoughtful reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated, along with whatever else suits your fancy.**

XxX

_Ashes_

He was supposed to be dead.

He wasn't, and that worried him.

An eruption of fire, vibrant with nearly every color of the rainbow, burst to life to his left. A cavalcade of trees groaned and toppled over, unable to handle the stress, the heat, the lick of flames all around. His breath echoed in his ears, his lungs burned themselves down to sparks. The time had flown fast. How long had he been running?

How long had it been? Life… This strange feeling of… living… since when did he ever receive it after giving it away?

Now wasn't the time. Now wasn't the time to worry about that.

There was a nip at his ear, then an explosion at his back.

His mind blanked out, hidden by flashes of red. His leading foot dragged into the dirt and pulled him down like an anchor. Air blew out of his mouth; his next inhale sucked in dirt. He coughed diluted blood as he rose off his stomach into a kneeling position.

Warmth at his back forced him onto his feet, and he set out, put one foot in front of another as he jogged into a run. Legs churned, chest heaved, heart pounded. The shard in his back squirmed and turned his run into a limp.

He held back a cough, swallowed the fluid rising in his mouth. He had to run, he had to. There was no other choice now.

Whatever the reason…

He wasn't going to lie down and die again.

Smoke curled skyward, snaking over the sun and turning blue to gray. Crackling, the firs behind tumbled over in a heap, scattering ashes and black shapes like lazy phoenix feathers suspended on updrafts of warmth.

There was another nip at his hand. He wrenched his hand away; the pain remained and didn't disappear. His head shuddered at the feeling. He could feel something… stuck in his hand, standing proud above his skin. He didn't want to look, not now, not yet. It stung like hell, but—

There it was: the explosion, again. In his back, a second time, slightly below the first one, the coldness of it not new to him. He felt something build in his throat. It came out as a scream.

When he fell on his face he crawled forward, palms scooping up dirt and dust, scathing embers sinking into exposed skin in a fiery snowfall that burned the earth to a crisp. He felt them: remnants of the explosions, tips of cold, pointed metal scraping his spine, tethered there by shafts of splintered wood.

Inch by inch, he moved him arm. Up, up, and over. Stiff fingers wrapped around the shaft and yanked upwards. The explosion bloomed anew, and a howl rent the tepid sky. The cold metal clattered to the ground. Once more, there was a yell, and the frosted touch dissolved into a burning that piled upon the first explosion. He held a second arrow in his hand. Blood on his fingers, on the arrowhead, in the earth around him. Moisture clouded his eyes. A bead of crimson blood grew into a dome on his earlobe. Teeth bit into dry flesh.

One foot. Another foot. They propped themselves up, and he was on his feet, standing, hunched over, carrying a weight as he staggered then righted himself. He stepped forward as his teeth bit into his gums. He yanked the arrow in his hand out and bit back another yell, another scream.

The pain was in his mind. It bowed his back, hammered him over into an arc as he stumbled against a burning tree, smoking and melting. His muscles, his own body couldn't respond, wouldn't.

_Get out._

The pain shrugged in seeming carelessness and resumed its conquest.

An explosion. Another one, in his left.

He jerked forward, let go of the tree; he could dimly feel another arrow in his left shoulder, sitting proud as warmth pooled down his arm as he fell onto his stomach. When he settled, he was unconscious.

XxX

He felt himself blink. Eyelids fluttering, stinging with every movement.

His shoulder was pressed against something thick, hard, cold. Pebbled dug into his chest, the sides of his legs, his arms. He couldn't feel his left shoulder. His eyes blurred. Moisture on his chest, hands rigid behind his back. He twisted his wrists and felt rope around them.

There was a faint murmur. Somewhere off in the distance, above him. No more than the brush of a feathered wing flying higher than the clouds, or the whisper of a gentle breeze. It was toneless, filled with neither malice nor content. It was masculine, feminine, both at the same time. The voice itself was a void.

Filled with nothing.

The voice cleared. The tone: deep yet somehow alto-soprano; the accent unplaceable. The inflection went nowhere, and yet seemed to spiral out in every direction, absorbing and reflecting everything at once.

It, this nameless entity, this boundless voice, said, "You're awake."

How was he to respond?

"That was quite a chase you led us on. That forest didn't need burning. The mansion, however… There's a different a story for that." The voice paused, and there was a rustle of coarse fabric. "Although I'm sure it makes sense to you already. You knew what needed to be done. A cardinal rule of war: burn the lodgings of your enemy, and they will surely gather at your waiting, eager feet like moths to a firelight."

He tried to roll over onto his stomach, and he nearly blacked out. Something like a volcano surged in his head, his abdomen. Arcs of lava spiraled about, and flows of ash and noxious fumes billowed down the slopes as something brought him up to his knees using his upper body, before this strange voice.

_Get off your knees. Bow to no one. Don't… bow…_

He didn't respond. Couldn't. His mouth refused to open.

"But there are no moths anymore. No people to trace. Just you." The voice grew a quiet edge, laced with a softness resembling a mellow rainstorm, patting out a rhythm of clicks, beats, and gentle thumps against rooftops. The words it spoke, with menace hidden in every cubbyhole and cranny, flashed through, bolts of lightning and the calls of thunder startling the rain into silence. "You are the only one left. Of course, I'd say you cheated. But that wouldn't make any sense. At the same time, however, it would." There was a pause, and then: "Perhaps you should have been left alone. It would be better if you stayed dead. For nearly everyone involved."

His voice, quiet with a rough, sandpaper quality, spoke on its own. "Should have said something earlier."

"When I say 'everyone', I don't mean me. My apologies for the misunderstanding." The rainstorm was back in the mysterious voice as there were two successive clicks against the stone he sat upon. It was kicking the foot of its chair in a manner that resembled an excited child waiting for presents. "I mean those you call your allies, your friends, your comrades. Do you blame yourself for being the last one? The only survivor? Well, you've had experience with that." Its words stopped sharply, as did the tapping. "I know."

He looked up, through a sheet of blood. His neck cried out but did not falter. "What are you talking about?"

The figure, obscured partially by a blurred, bloodstained vision and the indomitable aura of its voice, moved the smallest inch. "There are things you have to understand. I came here to show you, to tell you. You need to find meaning, and sadly, you can't do it on your own. Sad, sad insects. But you'll see, soon enough. I don't need to tell you."

He blinked. Once, twice. His vision was clear, and he could see.

The figure that sat before him reclined on a throne of pearly, red marble and wore a robe of white, stained a rust-red and pockmarked with holes and long gashes from which blood seeped freely. Bandages wrapped around the whole of the pale-white head, illuminated like rusted bed-sheets under a halo of yellow, under a dying moon. Two cheekbones jutted out from underneath the gauze, bathed in steep shadow.

A red iris enlarged a white pupil, gazing down from the throne above with unblinking tenacity, like the eye of a hawk that has singled out prey. "You look worse for wear. Then again, my newly-recruited soldiers were harsher than necessary, bringing you here. Again, I apologize."

"You're…" One word. That's all he had.

"I am glad for your ability to talk. What intelligence was left at your conception has still carried through. I would call your conception a natural birth, if not for the fact that it was not. At least, not completely."

His throat choked on itself, but he muttered, coughing, vision going red, "Just stop with the bad guy rhetoric and get this over with."

The voice tutted, as if scolding a family pet. "You would like to end this so quickly? Don't you have any hope? Any last wishes, or desires you wish to fulfill before ending your miserable, murderous life?" It spat those words, words that left a sour taste, that burned the air with their acridity. "A life that, since its 'conception', has brought nothing but suffering, bitterness, anger, and sadness. Do you really think you deserve a quiet death? No." Its voice rose in volume, the calm demeanor it carried like a mask shattered from the inside out, cracks flying outward, exposing a darkened, dismal interior devoid of light. "You, like all others that have crossed my path, deserve so much more. Or less, perhaps. Either way."

The figure snarled softly and stepped off the throne, descending the steps as if descending from the heavens to deliver retribution, back straight, head raised, shoulders tall and laid in bedrock. As it drew a thorn-ridden, whip-thin vine from the base of his marble throne, it murmured, "I should say nothing else. This is old news to you, I suppose."

And it lashed its arm forward, whip uncurling against his bare chest in a shower of crimson rain. Before he could fall over, muscles gone limp, mind on meltdown, the being grabbed his shoulder to steady him. Its grasp was like iron. The whip came a second time, curling backwards and then forwards. Then again. Again.

A punch came to his stomach, fast, a catapult launch behind its delivery. It slammed into his solar plexus, cracking something under his skin and pushing bile up his windpipe. Then another, this time to the center of his face. Something shattered in his left cheek.

The grip on his shoulder subsided. He fell at last, face flush to the wet earth, nose painted red, breath coming in shallow gulps of mildewed air. A fire burned over his skin, in his mind, hissing in glee. "You… you done yet?"

"No. not yet."

It took a step back. There was a bright flash, a ring of light that spread outwards. The halo passed over his head, knocking away support columns and red walls with the reverberations of bombshells. Clouds of dust drifted over, clogging the air and scratching his lungs.

Shaking, he angled his head upwards.

One eye. Red, the iris black, the pupil white. A gleaming halo, coated in a thin layer of rust that fell like copper snow, shining like a second sun. Wings, the tips dipped in red, hovered above its back. A white, raindrop-formed body dipped down midair and caught itself, an out-of-control pendulum held back by one invisible string.

Through the haze, he heard, with perfect clarity, a voice that harkened the fiercest of storms. He heard the words, words that meant nothing, and meant everything.

"You may call me… Zero-Two."

Then, there was a pause.

It was just for a second. Just. Not a minute, not an hour, not a day, a week, a month. One second.

And then, there was pain. Pure, indescribable pain, limitless, remorseless. Pain that knew no bounds, no restrictions.

Pain.

His back arched, and when he relaxed, so did his heartbeat.

XxX


	2. Acquaintance

XxX

_Acquaintance_

The sky above was black: the shades of blue, of white, of purple or red, replaced by a blanket of ink that seemed to stretch on, end over end. Streaks of indigo light danced in the darkened sky, acrobatic fireworks in the cool stagnant emptiness, twirling and hanging midair before somersaulting, leaping over each other. No longer was there a sun; the warmth that spoke of blood-hot flares and rising temperatures had cooled to an icy, shapeless mist that flew adrift on the back of silence.

He lay on his back, chest pulsing in rhythm to his heart. Ba-bump. Bump. Bmp. His head felt light, weightless enough to spiral up to the stars, to the borders of the known world and past. His back felt hot, too hot, and if he waited that hotness turned to a coldness that couldn't be told apart from one or the other. It burned and froze, two at once.

And there was something in his chest felt… weird, off, like something had changed inside his chest, like there was a black void of… numbness milling about in his blood, pumping through his heart and spreading to his mind.

He didn't know what it was. It just felt… strange. Like it didn't belong.

And… why did it feel like so much time had passed, like the world had revolved several times over without him in it, like time had flowed around him? The last things there had been were clouds, red skies, and a throne where a single figure sat, proud and haughty, with that tempered gaze and that single red eye—

He shook the thoughts away. There'd be another time to think about that, another moment to contemplate, but for now, he just wanted to lie on his back and never move again—

The sky, a void of black, beckoned at his prone figure with one pointed claw. Those purple streaks clamped onto his vision and held on. They seemed to replicate, doubling over, two ribbons next to one another, and then would combine in a fluid movement like running brooks merging into a stream.

He let his eyelids fall. They closed, flickering briefly before shooting open and shuttering together once more. His fingers jerked at his sides, opened before closing, opening and closing—

They clenched into a fist that strained the arrow wound there. Fingernails, chipped and blackened with grime, tensed and dug into his palms. Slowly, carefully, his back trembling as his legs shook, he rolled over onto his stomach. It heaved; there was nothing in it. He rose. First onto his knees, then onto two feet. Slowly, don't rush this…

One step. Then two. Three, four. His feet padded along the ground.

The ground was smooth, like a seamless patch of tiles, like hardwood. Unpaved and unmarked, it glinted obsidian under the illumination of violet lava in the air, blending with the toneless sky in an unbroken palette.

He took a step and tripped over something. His back bent over, and he heard something in his spine snap.

Scabs ripped open as he yelled to the black skies; no one was around to hear him.

One step. Then another. Don't stop, you can't stop, you can't afford to, there're things that need to be done, don't stick around, dear God... Keep moving. Keep it up, the ground isn't nearly as nice for walking as it is for lying down, but keep at it… Don't—

Walk, just walk, for God's sake, walk…

He tripped, faltered, and caught himself just in time. Vision clouded, he stood, unblinking, before tightening his chest. Fists balled, he teetered on his feet in silence before leaning to his left, then to his right, swaying to a ghostly wind.

He put one foot ahead, and could dimly see something lay before him, a tall shadow looming long over the length of the blackened earth that formed a tower to the sky.

The shape loomed closer, then drew away from his back. Frozen ants marched down his spine; his arms tingled as they tensed, muscles breathing and holding the air in. His legs stopped. He turned his head to look behind him, his neck cold.

The shape was wide at the top, where it tapered to a head. A cape swirled down below, touching the ground with placid wisps and opening to show boots, like the curtains of a stage play. Unmoving and relentless, a statue unbothered by the aging of the realm around and heedless to the ticks of the worldly clock that all others obeyed, it— this figure— stood tall, a behemoth of shadow and darkened fire.

A tendril flew past, lighting up red hair forged in a sweltering furnace that specked a dark, broad face, mouth set shortly above the square chin. The skin was dark green, green of forests, green of bursting crops in the summertime. But that green was a grayish black now, that green of forests and of crops, the flares haven eaten away everything of verdant color.

He straightened his spine, a name on his lips.

"Ganondorf…?"

The figure turned where it stood, still tall, still blank, a cliff standing in the sea. Nostrils flared outwards, eyes opened further in their sockets.

His eyes… His eyes were—

Red eyes, with pupils of white and irises of black…

It, the figure, Ganondorf, stepped closer, fist revealed from under a maroon cloak, clenched beneath an armored gauntlet. Mist, a dark, lavender mist, gathered above bent knuckles, perspiring from folds in the skin of weathered fingers. Ganondorf said nothing.

He, the visitor, the wanderer, stepped back as Ganondorf's foot pounded again. Closer, closer.

The fist, Ganondorf's fist, hovered there, a radiant, darkened sun suspended by a puppeteer's strings that slammed forward, catching him underneath the collarbone. A whiplash of fire scored itself anew into his skin, his heart, his mouth. A second fist, a clamshell opened for prey, clamped around his neck.

His tongue could do nothing but flop as he was hauled a ways off the ground by the hand at his throat. Mouth opened, hands clenched again and again, loosening only to constrict a second, a third time. He stiffened his neck muscles. Only so far…

One hand reached up to the arm level with his chin, movements fueled by gasoline, joints made from creaky iron and steel. Liquid frothed at the back of his mouth, underneath his tonsils.

One short sentence.

"Snake…"

Ganondorf's arm tightened; as did his hand. Violet embers sparked off his fist, sinking into pale, rough, calloused skin in a display of lavender fireworks, crescents of humming light flashing to and fro like kaleidoscopic fountains of water. Snake tensed, teeth gritted, eyelids flickering.

"…you should be dead."

Ganondorf threw his arm to the side, Snake along with it. Bones split, scabs opened, skin chafed and bruised. He skidded on his side, and when he came to rest his body rested unmoving, chest shallowly pumping air.

Ganondorf was above him suddenly, eyes keen and sharp, red around edges that pulsed blood, irises black, pupils white.

Red.

Red eyes.

Snake's arm moved, muscles springing on their own and leaving thoughts behind. His palm wrapped around the knuckles on Ganondorf's hand. Ganondorf screeched to a halt, momentum gone. Snake kicked forward, snapping something underneath his foot. Ganondorf grunted a half-octave higher and stepped back, fist pulled away.

Snake pushed off the ground, swimmer diving off the board. His own fist, caked in blood, blasted into Ganodorf. The nose underneath cracked. One fist, then another. A punch to the chest, then to the shoulder. There was a pop of a joint, and Ganondorf staggered back, stilled. He stood, motionless, stiflingly quiet. Snake lowered his arms, unbending his elbows.

A blur of movement streaked out; the warlock's leg blurred and cracked into the center of Snake's stomach, flush below his rib cage.

Snake felt his vision blur, his eyesight flare black, the black of the day-less sky around. Warmth pooled down his bare chest and stung, stung at the wounds already there and left crimson tracks on the skin. His lungs fluttered, birds struggling to stay aloft. Stumbling, falling backwards, Snake felt his arm snap as something crashed into it. A fist, maybe, or a second kick.

He didn't know, even as he stumbled back and tried to hold his ground, even as Ganondorf kept coming, kept coming and punching, and Snake tried to stop Ganon with his good arm, and it wasn't enough—

The pain laughed as it came to life in his chest, voice rising from watery shadows, cackling from the throat up, raspy and harsh in his ears. _You are nothing. Nothing._

Ganon lunged forward and slammed a fist underneath Snake's jaw. Blood spewed from his nose, and Snake could feel it working its way down his lips and into his mouth as he was thrown backward through the air.

Snake landed on the obsidian plain with a thud, a restrained yell, and still Ganondorf came closer, snarling under his breath. Coughing, Snake strained his legs, tried to get on to his feet, but… But nothing was happening, and Ganon was looking at him with those red eyes and raising a fist… His eyelids closed without thought, and he let them stay closed; he was just really drained all of a sudden—

Something blurred behind Ganondorf. There was a grunt, a sharp smack. Crunching underneath a weight, the thing slammed against the ground.

Snake, on the floor, lying still on his side, fluttered his eyelids open.

Ganondorf, eyes shut, chest compressed as one more breath slumped from exhausted lips, tumbled down onto his face. A clear red slash down his chest highlighted the bloodstained armor it pierced through. His cape fell around his body in a discarded, laundry-pile heap.

Snake rolled over onto his back, body set aflame. Arms and legs spread-eagled, he closed his eyes again, mouth held crookedly open, breath pushing up and outwards.

A thing, soft, bumped his shoulder. Gently, for all the world as if he were a dog being stroked by an owner, with a gentle touch, soft hands. _Tap. Tap. Tap, tap._

His eyes flickered open. He angled his head to the right. The back of his skull scraped against the ground. Bone shuddered, and Snake bit down hard. Blood leaked from his lower lip, staining his gums red.

"Poyo."

The figure doubled, and then merged together.

Something round and… pink… materialized before him, small, toothless mouth open in an O. It bounced upon two red feet, large and rounded like almonds at the top. One vaguely hand-shaped appendage gripped a sword, stained black in the luminescent streaks of color darting about.

A word scored his throat, forced out amongst stuttering, halting breaths.

"Kirby…?"

He moved his arm toward this shape. Is this…?

This was the arm, the arm that Ganondorf crac—

The arm seized, shards of bone scraping each other. Snake yelled skyward, and when his arm fell, his vision fell alongside it. The purple of the sketched sky blotched the world, until it seemed to swallow everything in a burst of color.

"Poyo," went Kirby. Snake didn't catch the rest.

He blacked out.

XxX


	3. Respite

XxX

_Respite_

Tap. Tap.

Snake twitched, chest convulsing gently. His eyes moved on their own, darting about freely. And his head… His head hurt like shit. It just hurt, and thinking hurt; doing anything hurt… His forehead pulsed, his eyes throbbed, and everything hurt—

Tap.

He rolled over onto his right, away from that tapping, away from that thing that was making his head hurt even more, and his arm ached, ached endlessly, and he couldn't really move it anymore. He didn't want to make anything worse, didn't want to mess things up more than they already were—

And they already were messed up… He never saw this coming, never imagined any of this… These black skies, that one person with the whip, Ganon coming after him… What was this?

And what kind of world-class idiot was he to just fall apart like this…?

The arm trembled, laughing and screaming all at once, bone creaking, jeering, taunting under its breath, uttering profanities, and pointing fingers his way. The pain joined in, flooding in from his abdomen, his left shoulder, his back.

He choked on something warm and froze where he lay. His forehead broiled; there was no sun, no sky, and yet it set the world on fire and scalded the earth with blood. His breath came in, out, in, out, until he lost track. Like ants, marching, marching, lost amongst themselves in an armada of living, writhing bodies, he lost track.

There was a patter in his ears, like rain. The feeling in his shoulder tingled and stung, and that must have been the arrow wound. There it stayed, nagging and loud, and by now it must have been infected… How long had it been since he'd gotten it in the forest? How long had it been since then?

He opened his eyes, and Kirby was there in front of him, pink and bouncy, eyes shining.

Holding his injured arm against himself and shaking on his one hand and two knees, Snake rose off his side and sat down. He plopped down heavily, wincing as the shock traveled up his back. Soon enough, he needed to do something about his injuries.

He didn't know how he looked. His face must have been covered in cuts, and his chest… The slash down his chest burned whenever he moved, and his shoulder must have been a mess, what with the arrow wound and all—

Kirby said nothing. Of course, he never did. Of course.

The sky opened, a rumble slicing the dim heavens. Tongues of purple lightning struck the surface world, rimmed with accents of white fire like the spears of angry gods…

Would have made more sense if they were red.

Snake whirled around, glancing at the slumped shape angled in random directions that lay behind him. The cape, folded on top. The bloodied chest, stained with a red slash.

Sighing, ribcage expanding and crackling atop thin lungs, he turned back the way he was facing.

_Ganondorf tried to kill me…_

Those eyes, Ganondorf's eyes. They weren't always red.

Were they?

Yeah, maybe they were. But they didn't always look exactly like that before… They were white, around the edges near the eyelids… Right. That's right. They _were _white near the eyelids. Like normal eyes… But then, then Ganon had red eyes, and his irises were black and his pupils were white and nothing about that really made sense—

Snake opened his mouth. He imagined himself saying, windpipe corroded from lack of use, "Did Ganondorf do that on purpose?" Kirby would open his mouth and say, "I don't know, but perhaps you could work it out, or maybe we could try to as a team. People always work better in teams," and then continue what he would be doing had Snake not spoken to him in that tone of his. Maybe fiddling with his dirtied sword, rocking back and forth like a pink pumpkin, or staring off a ways. But Snake would exhale deeply and be assured, knowing that—

"Poyo."

Snake closed his mouth. Why was he asking for help from Kirby, expecting something that would actually benefit him…? Why was he expecting that of people like this?

"Poyo." Kirby got back up onto his ridiculously large feet and gestured wildly at the horizon.

Snake grunted and waved a hand. _Sure._

Kirby, with one last look at Snake's head, the head with the eyes that didn't meet his, the head that bowed and refused to rise higher for more than a minute, walked off into the abyss, atop the ground of obsidian, underneath the streaks of light.

Snake felt his pockets, patting them down faster and faster as each second elapsed. Hands moved like clockwork. Scurrying, drumming, scraping at handholds and plateaus of dirt and caked mud.

They found nothing.

_Damn it, damn it. On top of all this…_

He heaved a sigh.

He didn't have his cigarettes.

Even if he had them, they wouldn't be of much use.

He had lost his lighter, too.

XxX

Kirby walked, and then stopped where he stood. The shape reaching up to the heavens before him was grainy, blurred in an outdated, greyscale photograph taken years ago. Those years were gone, and now photos were rainbows of color, capturing every detail the eye could see without additional aid, but it made sense.

That made sense. Hopefully. Right?

The puffball scratched his head… Maybe "rubbed" would be a better word in that sentence.

This thing, frozen and stationary, was twisted as it stood rooted in the ground, convoluted at the base and tips that soared off from a singular black column and contorted in on themselves. Where those tips should have sprouted emerald leaves, shining with the light of the early morning and reflecting shattered glass in the dew-drops, there sprouted black brambles dipped in ink, their thorns like wooden spears.

And the berries. Kirby narrowed his eyes.

Weren't they supposed to be colorful? Red? Or orange? Maybe yellow, or a mix of all three. Fruity colors, he supposed. Like cherries, or… Strawberries. Those were the droplet-shipped fruits. Yep. Those colors looked natural on fruits that grew on trees.

But black berry… orb… things? They didn't even have stems.

Kirby rubbed his head again.

Hmm.

But it was wood, right? Trees are wood, and so most are easy to burn. Trees burn, and so trees make fire for warmth…

Even though this tree was pitch-black and leaks purple sap that steams.

Wood is wood. And they needed it. So any wood would do just fine.

Ha!

He touched the trunk. Just a slight tap, not enough to disturb any strange birds or strange insects that thrived in the boughs of this strange tree, he assumed, just a small tap to see what kind of wood this was.

It felt cold, like a pillar of ice standing amidst a blizzard, ice crystals flinging themselves about, this way, one way then another way.

He stepped back. Wood was never a forte of his…

Kirby drew his sword. _Shing, _went the metal, gleaming, a crystal from a subterranean cavern sitting noble atop a hilt of… Well, the hilt was made of something strange, probably. He had no clue.

The wood cleaved like warm butter under a knife. He assumed that cutting warm butter felt like cutting wet clay. He had cut wet clay, though, just not warm butter.

Kirby stepped back as the wood fell around him, hissing in reply, lashing out and molding holes in the floor.

Maybe he had cut cold butter before while helping someone cook… Eh.

The sword sang a few more lines, and then the show was over. Curtains drawn to a standing ovation, the last tendrils of steam lifting up, up, and away, the last of the sap evaporating until it no longer stung to look at.

Before him lay a pile of planks, black, splintered on the inside like normal wood.

Phew.

Kirby relaxed and closed his eyes as he held his sword out in front of him. It should work.

When he opened his eyelids his sword was gone. He had thought of his sword's storage compartment as a kind of teleporting, invisible locker. He just had to concentrate, and the sword would be stored away for later use.

He bounced up and down. Wow. That sounded cool. He had thought of it as being more… simple, easier to understand.

Kirby waltzed over, arms open wide for the wooden hug, and when he straightened there was a copious amount of timber in his stubby limbs. He turned around on one smooth foot and nearly tripped on himself. Something caught his face just as he stopped himself, eyes wide, mouth open. Maybe it was worry, or fear, or a combination of all these other emotions, but—

Ah, well.

How was he to know? They all felt so weird, these emotions.

He went back the way he came, wood in his grasp, a slight grin on his face. His walk rose to a short jog, a jog that echoed for miles around.

XxX

Snake rubbed his forehead again. He had lost count. His fingers, moving, twitching, writhing as serpents, unable to stay still. Scratch whatever uneven ground they could find, crack the knuckles, rub together, tap. Rinse and repeat. Scratch, crack, because there was not much else he could do at the moment besides sit and wait, and think about what to do next—

Something about that angel with one eye had been weird, like a fleeting memory he felt more in his heart than in his head. It didn't feel right, being near him, like the world itself was fundamentally flawed…

And all of those things he'd said… How did he know? What made it his business to know all of these details? Sure, Snake didn't really know much, either, but… But that angel… What was his deal? Nothing felt right.

He still had questions, and he still wanted answers… He clenched a fist. If he stayed alive a little longer, then maybe, maybe he'd get answers.

Death had been his only option. The memory of it was weird, strange, and he didn't really have any memories of it, now did he…? And yet here he was, granted life once again.

Maybe he'd find answers someday.

Snake coughed suddenly, hacking as blood rose in his mouth. He took a deep breath, breathed, pushed his chest out and hearing the shallow air gush through his lungs. If he had any hope of getting through any of this, he needed to be able to control his body, block out the discomfort like he'd been taught so long ago. If only he could do that, then…

Then things would be a hell of a lot easier.

_Plop._

Snake turned to look and saw Kirby setting a group of logs down on the ground. A plank of blackened wood met his eyes. It felt rough, riddled with craters and mountains, jagged splinters piercing like spikes.

If it had been burnt before it would have dissolved a long time ago…

Kirby bustled about, urgently, meteors falling above his head, lightning strikes splitting howling winds and growling cloud banks of gray. One log, then the next. A marble, smooth, wide as an orange, caught Kirby, hooked him in. Kirby bent over and poked it. It popped and spread powder over the pile.

Then the logs were on fire.

Kirby bounded back and let out a high yell, landing on his rump. His eyes and rounded body gleamed purple from the flames, flying in every direction and popping like firecrackers. Mauve, then orchid purple, then lavender, then violet, then lilac. A flicker of white warmth snagged on an exterior log, and there it fluttered, flagging in the breeze, a white cloth in a festival of jolting, jumping monochromatic color.

Both scooted closer, Kirby dragging himself along, inch by inch, Snake rising off the ground before settling again. He held out his one good hand, his palm smiling and shivering at once. He would have held out his other hand, but… He still couldn't really feel it.

_Snrk. _

Snake snapped to. He peeked to his right.

Kirby had his eyes shut. A bulb of snot shimmied out of his mouth and inflated bit by bit. His breathing was easy, gentle, as if he were taking a morning nap.

Snake turned back to the flames and peered in. They flickered, dancing, curling like ribbons. The smoke that wafted from the burning wood smelled of sharp cider and a misted, dew-laden morning.

His arms drooped at the shoulders, palms closing, flowers shutting in under faceless moonlight. His head drooped forward on a lazy neck, and he felt his back relax, his muscles loosen. Pain still jolted through, but… But it was better than before, slightly. It didn't hurt as much.

Snake tumbled onto his side, collapsed abruptly and let his bones go limp.

He was asleep soon after.

XxX


	4. Conclave

XxX

_Conclave_

Petals. Everywhere, floating, clouds of flowering snow, adrift on hushed, unseen wings, alighting on the tops of rounded gravestones. Fields of flowers, blooming silently under the orange sun, sat still under oak trees with boughs of green muted with gray. They called those flowers "stars-of-Bethlehem", for the nameless, for those who have no past, future, present. Soldiers, dogs of war.

Snake knelt, the breeze taking whatever voice he had left. A gust tickled his face, his burns on his left cheek.

"This is good, isn't it?"

Snake stayed where he was, motionless. The man leaning against the gravestone beside him let out a breath. It was small, unnoticed among the light whistle of wind above yet marked, accented. His chest stilled.

Snake picked the cigar up from the ground, brushed off the dirt.

The setting sun had faded to a rosy pink that stunned the world into silence, staining the circling clouds red, dwindling their hues into a rosy pink.

He stubbed the cigar out. It hissed; smoke curled around his fingers, underneath his open hand and into the open sky.

Dancing in circles, pirouetting, twirling, hopping on feet made of feathers, a petal spiraled down to the earth. It fell, lazily, zigzagging its way down into his outstretched left hand, settling flat into the center of his weathered palm.

Snake closed his fingers over it.

A moment elapsed, a moment suspended in time.

He opened his fingers.

One single petal of white, bleached, sucked dry curled limp in his hand. A warm gust rose from the flowers to greet him, to rasp in his ears of days gone by.

The warm gust parted. The heat haze cleared.

Embedded in the petal was a red eye, iris black, pupil white. It blinked, lazy as a summer's day, and the world around him scattered into panels of vain color. They faded to grey, then to black as everything dissolved, as the space around lost meaning and disappeared into nothing.

XxX

Snake's eyes shot open. He gasped air, and immediately felt his chest tighten, his throat choke on itself. His arm was burning, burning and burning even though it felt broken, mostly… There was no way he could move it, no way, and yet here he was, moving it—

He shifted and got onto his hands and knees, breathing hard and cradling his injured arm. The ground was blurring underneath him, and as he wavered he inched a hand forward. Slowly, slowly moving, getting used to the movement so he could get up onto his feet…

He dragged himself slowly, slowly, carefully, anything to get away from all of this, anything to keep moving—

If everything would be better off, then—

Then, then why was he here…?

Then—

What, what was all of this, all of this bleak and terrible sky, all of these strange streaks flying around… Nothing made sense, nothing, nothing, and if this was what life was going to be from here on out then why—

And that one guy… that thing… Zero… or whatever…

It didn't matter right now. He wasn't here, and Snake could worry about that later, when he had the time and the will to—

Snake felt blood worm its way down his chin, drip onto the ground below him. He dragged himself forward one more and toppled onto his stomach, coughing gently. His fingers twitched. Red seeped into his eyes, and he felt like itching them, but he knew he wouldn't be able to without having it hurt—

God, shit… His eyelids wanted to close, he wanted to sleep and never wake up for the rest of his life, and then maybe there would be something right with the world once again—

At least then he'd be getting enough sleep—

Snake clenched the fist on his good hand, because the other one still had an arrow wound partway through it… He was seeing double, watching as the world around him twisted and broke off only to merge into one once again… But everything was so, blurry, and he just wanted to… sleep…

He blinked, slowly, carefully… Maybe sleep would help—

Snake dragged himself forward again, and his back burned, twitched, and he could feel scabs ripping, even though they hadn't fully hardened in the first place… Something ripped through the skin, and warmth flew down his bare back.

Hacking and spitting, Snake breathed to himself and concentrated on the feeling in his chest, counted the breaths… One, two… Three…

But, it hurt, it hurt like hell—

Four, five… Six, seven… Eight—

Pain abruptly ripped its way through his upper body in a sudden seizure, and he let himself fall forward, nose against the ground, blood pooling around his mouth. Couldn't… couldn't—

His mind went off, and he lost track.

The world had faded into silence, and the whoosh of the curving winds had melted into nothingness, the mire of the abyss.

He let his arms settle at his sides, unclenched his fists. It took too much effort for now… He wouldn't have to really keep his fists bared if he was sleeping…

No, it wouldn't matter. It wouldn't matter then.

Blinking sluggishly, Snake gritted his teeth and rolled over onto his back as the shadows swallowed him, as he fell into a soundless abyss of night.

XxX

A voice. Quiet, gentle, like a feather.

"Kirby, was he like this when you found him?"

"Poyo."

"I can't understand you like that, not unless you make gestures." A pause. "Like that. Makes it easier for me."

"Poyo."

"Oh, is that charcoal? I'm assuming you know how to write our common language, then. Could you use that to write, possibly?"

_Scritch, scratch. _Rubbing, then more writing.

"'Ganondorf was trying to… kill him.' And then… 'I stopped Ganondorf and saved him.'" A sigh, long and deep. More scratching. "'He was probably like that before, because usually Snake has no problem against a person like Ganon. I didn't see him any earlier.' Yes, I know. Everyone else knows, too. Snake is someone not to be trifled with. But…"

"Poyo." There were brow creases in that voice, small, childish. "Poyo." Scratch, scratch, scratch.

"I can't heal him entirely. I learned a lot, surely, but that won't be enough. It'll get him by." The voice, a "she", replied, monotone, "Just for the moment, while we find him prolonged care. If we can."

"Don't need it." His own voice rasped out, breaking through rust. "I'm fine."

He blinked, everything fuzzy, distorted through warped, tinted glass. Black sky, oily rainbow streaks, great.

His neck could move. He turned his head. Right, left, right, left. It focused on right.

Kirby sat next to a slim figure, tall, hooded, kneeling besides him. It was unmoving, a still lake in a storm, a stone in a noiseless field. It, she, this thing… Who?

The figure revolved to face him.

He blinked. It had taken off its hood.

Long auburn hair tumbled out after it, tied in a ponytail. Bangs tied up in two other streams lay atop the temples of a thin, pale façade, shining like ice. One trailed over a blue eye, wide under a trim eyebrow; the other over cold metal. Metal sat atop her face, adorned with slits, clamped to the head with bands of leather under the hair, under the pointed ears, shielding half the face and stopping at the bridge of the nose. The metal was a mask, glinting harshly, discordant astride the pearl-smooth skin, the warmth of the brown hair.

She. It was a she.

The voice… The half-visible face… The melting touch… It clicked.

"Queens don't belong in a place like this," Snake said, a chuckle withering on parched lips.

Zelda laughed, a flourishing melody in the empty rests, empty harmonies. "I'm not a queen. Not completely. A part of me isn't appealed by that prospect of court life. But some say it suits me."

"Would you agree?"

Zelda gave a half-hearted smile; curled her lip upwards. "No. Not at all. My father could do that job without me. Perhaps, differently, perhaps better."

Snake moved to sit up. Again, the touch, docile as falling snow, gently sweeping against his skin. It was cold, but hot. Kind of warm… "You shouldn't even be alive right now. The healing helped, I assume… I hope it carries you well, until we can—"

"Yeah, I heard. I was awake."

"Mm. Sleeping is good for the soul. You should have stayed asleep. Better for everybody."

Snake fixed her a glare. "How so?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You'll slow everyone down."

He half-laughed, half-gagged. "I guess."

"This is serious. You shouldn't be moving right at this moment. Maybe in a few hours or so, we'll get going."

"'We?' I don't seem to remember saying you were coming with us." His mouth sucked in lightly. _Idiot. Like you needed to say that._

Without missing a beat, Zelda said, "The more the merrier, as you humans say. Yes?"

"Yeah, that's it. And you're not?"

"Not what?"

"Human."

"Not all the way through. At least, I assume. There's some human in all of us, maybe."

"Is that a compliment? Or an insult?"

She looked off, wringing her hands, lacing the grooves between her fingers together, twisting the black… gloves over one another. "Maybe both. Just a statement."

Zelda glanced at Kirby. He was staring at the floor, brows furrowed, then relaxing, then furrowed. He sighed, mouth puffing open, then inhaled. Exhale, inhale. _Fwoosh._

Snake nodded to himself. "You coming?"

Zelda jolted, head shooting upwards. Her hands separated and clutched themselves at her sides. The face under the mask shook; the visible cheek grew a pastel grey sheen. She bit her lip and shuddered her ponytail. Eyes glassy, frozen in crystal shards, falling, clinking as they fell, down, into darkness, into the depths of nothing, into—

"Zelda!"

"Y-yes? Ah. Forgive me. My mind walks many paths; it's a pleasant surprise to see it return." She shook her head, her lion's mane of hair a-whirl around her, hood bouncing along her upper back. An indent, a slight incline, a child of a valley, slid under her bottom lip. She said nothing.

Snake dragged a sweaty, frozen hand along the left side of his face. The tingling there… Were those his own burns, or was he just imagining things that were never really there…? Those burns that should have followed him to the grave, should have been laid to rest with his body…

He shook his own head.

"What's with the mask?" The question slipped down the slope of his tongue.

Zelda nearly jumped to her feet. Still, she hopped, a rabbit with a face of metal and flesh, the naked half in shadow. "Maybe someday… Maybe someday, when we trust each other, I'll tell you. Just, don't push it." Hurriedly, a rabbit with a pocket-watch, she said, voice bounding to and fro, "Kirby. We're going."

Kirby hopped to, his eyes gleaming in the muted light of the sky's violet spectrum.

Snake nearly sighed out loud. How could Kirby have this much energy in a time and place like this? Sure… he wasn't human. He wasn't anything like a human.

But there was just something… quietly reflective about him. He was a kid, and an immature, naïve kid at that. He loved food very, very much, didn't he…? He was always so… wondering, so happy…

Shaking his head in silence, Snake followed the others as they walked on, beating the pallid earth with their trudging footsteps as they wandered into the expanse of eternal nightfall.

XxX


	5. Flight

XxX

_Flight_

Flexing his left arm, Snake said, "Where are you… we… headed?"

Without turning to look back, Zelda answered, back high, steps even and paced one after the other, one-two, one-two, "To get you medical treatment. I know where we can go, if only you'll trust me. I know you're not willing to, and I don't blame you." Her words trailed off.

"That spell you cast was enough. I'm fine."

"No, you're not. I'd know. Also, there's another reason for going." Zelda kept her voice monotone. "There's someone else you need to meet. Although… You've met this entity before."

Snake caught up to her, matching her pace, one-two, one-two. "So, he's friendly."

"Last I checked."

"Which was?"

"Several weeks ago. But here… Anything can change."

He made a sort of grunt. "How the hell are you even supposed to keep time here?"

Zelda flicked her head forward. Lights, purple, red, orange, black and oily, caught on her mask and flagged where they stood, waving. "Over there."

A line, silver with stars, clusters of lustrous suns, clouded into the black, the dark, accenting the zenith of this hollow sky, flashing purple amidst white light.

"You can't really fully tell time. Time-keeping devices don't work. But if it's night, the horizon line will be darker, and in the day it'll be lighter and a little easier to see. Crude, yes, but… it works. People manage fine just the way it is."

Snake followed it as it stretched on, eyes squinting. They really had no choice but to be all right with it, then, if that was the only thing to keep time with. "What's at the end?"

Zelda looked at him. "What?"

"At that line. What's over there?"

She bit her lip. Bad habit. Stop doing that, you'll ruin your mouth. "His palace."

"Who?"

"I think you know," Zelda said simply.

Suddenly, his mind screamed as it was pulled into the past, a banshee lost in a maelstrom of wind moving backward. The punches, the iron fist, the bandages wrapped on top of themselves, the white cloak with holes like craters. He, it… He. No. It was male, but the way he'd carried himself put him above gender and race, above the temporal world.

_You done yet?_

_ No. Not yet._

He saw the whip streaking down his chest again, then again. He tasted blood, felt pain lance through his chest.

Snake glanced down briefly. A scar, jagged along the scarred edges, a thunderbolt of red, ran down his chest from his left shoulder to his right hip. He touched it, careful and gentle, for fear of its reaction, in the fear that it could snap at him and tear itself open again…

Pillars, broken, toppled. A red sky. Dusky clouds, a throne of marble.

_You may call me—_

"Zero-Two?"

"You know him?" The question was collected and mute, tied in a bundle with an expert hand.

Snake shivered. It wasn't cold, even though he wore nothing but his own skin above his belt buckle. Maybe it _was_ cold and he couldn't really feel it. He was shivering though, but definitely not from the cold. No, not now. Just… met him. Briefly."

"But you do know him, then. In theory."

"Maybe."

"Maybe," Zelda repeated to herself, mouthing long after the words had gone silent.

Zelda suddenly skidded to a stop. Snake doubled back; he had walked right past her.

She rasped, "Were you…?" She didn't finish. The half of her face that was visible paled, shaking, tremors quivering the skin, the fine cheekbones. "Did he…?"

He nodded.

Zelda tightened her right hand. A harsh sound, metal upon metal, worn and flaky with time, jarred Snake.

He said nothing.

At his side, Zelda said, "Then, it's true. I've been here for Din knows how long, but I was starting to hope that maybe… Maybe someone made it out of this…"

"What?"

"You were the last one left, Snake. Then he brought you here, to Dark Star, and now— I don't know how long it's been, but a lot of things have changed."

"Dark… what? Isn't this… Subspace?"

"In a way." Zelda's feet carried her forward without a thought. Walk, walk, walk. "When Zero came here, we didn't know what to expect. We didn't expect anything. We were just living, talking, training for the upcoming tournaments. Then, he was there, and I was here, my one eye blinded, my heart nearly torn in half. I couldn't find a single soul I knew in this… place." She halted her speech halfway, lips shut. "Then…Then he came, and…" Zelda shook her head and chased away her own words. "We'll figure it out. Don't obsess over what happened before. But… it's been a while, Snake. I've been places, seen things… Maybe I'll tell you someday."

"You were saying something about Dark Star…?"

"Subspace reborn, swallower of worlds, once the domain of the otherworldly Tabuu and his army of Shadow Bugs. We are in Subspace. Just not exactly like you're used to seeing it. Call it Dark Star. Because that's what it is. This is Zero's domain now."

"What happened to the Hands?"

The princess— queen— choked on something invisible. "They're gone. Zero…"

"He did this?"

Zelda nodded. "All of this. Everything he's ever said, every person he's ever killed landed us here. I don't know how you're here, though. Of all the things I could have seen, I see you, a newcomer to this place, and well… Maybe things could be worse."

"Zelda… do you know why?"

"Why…?!" Zelda snarled and turned to face Snake, gripped the sides of her sleeves. "Damnable villains like him don't need a reason! Suffering is all they can think of, and that's all they need! Their bedtime stories are tales of murder, and they discuss torture and sorrow every day, every waking minute of every hour. They're fine with it. They're fine with their lives, fine with giving in to pain and letting it overtake them without regret."

Snake looked down at his feet. So many things pushed his mouth open, hydraulics working double steel doors from the frozen hinges out.

_We have no past, no future. And even if we did, it wouldn't truly be ours! _

Memories… What could he say? How could he reply to what Zelda was saying, if… if he could understand it?

He went with a question. "Subspace reborn… Is there a chance we could see Tabuu again? Duon, Galleom…?"

"I don't want to think about it," was Zelda's instant answer. She continued walking, one-two, one-two. "There's always a chance, if that's what you're wondering. Anything could happen, anything."

Kirby tugged at Zelda's robe. Tugged. Not tapped…

_Boom. _The shockwave crunched a charred skeleton tree next to them, the "black berries" popping open like balls of confetti into a party of ghosts at a banquet with zombies, with—

And suddenly, he was there. Whip at the ready, blood-spattered wings spread behind him in a fan, robe trailing behind and dragging on the floor like the tail of some great, lofty creature.

Zero.

Zelda had withdrawn her sword from underneath her black coat. It clanged, and that clang seemed to stretch and stretch until it snapped, the sound curling in on itself. "You…"

"Yes. Me. I do believe you humans would call this being 'jinxed'. Yes? Yes, that must be it." Zero cracked his whip, and Zelda took a step back, a single ice-blue eye wide in a shallow socket. "I heard that. All of it. Now, why aren't you like the others?"

"That's a secret I'll take to my grave."

Zero snapped his fingers. The fingernails clacked against each other, the flesh scraping in a sound like scissors. "Maybe I should know. You've been here long enough, and maybe I should have paid attention to you. But, there's a time and place for that, and it wasn't your time. Wait, and you'll see."

His eyes met Kirby, pink, bouncy, sword pulled from a floating, ethereal locker, held at the ready. The puffball met his gaze, unfaltering, eyes held wide open. Zero said nothing and merely glared.

His gaze traveled to Snake, and he said, "The person I'm looking for is here with you. What a surprise. Well, nevertheless, my time is short. I figured I'd stop by to briefly make contact, but now I've located all three of you together. There's no rush. You'll get nowhere unless I want you to."

Kirby said nothing. Neither did anyone else.

"But, I'll leave a present, I think. It's worth it, the time I spent tracking you three down. Welcome to Dark Star, Snake. You'll find it very… educational. You'll see, soon enough."

_Boom. Boom._

The ground cleaved beneath where Zero hovered, humanoid, whip bent like a lizard's resting whip-tail. He moved his left arm over his chest, and he was gone. Robe, whip, wings, and all.

The thin chasm grew into a canyon, yawning at the dusky void above with open jaws, extending into the white of the horizon line. Flakes of the ground broke, shattering and tumbling into the abyss as a single wispy hand rose above them. The thickened hand was large, taller than Snake, Zelda, or Kirby, intent on ripping the heavens down from the sky. It anchored onto the precipice, and whatever was below it followed, slowly dragged to the surface, inch by inch, muscle by muscle. A bellow, deep underneath the floor, recoiled and flung itself in every direction.

Zelda moved backwards, metal gauntlet underneath the sleeve tightened around a sword hilt, each individual claw luminous, slicing razors that left rents in the air as they fidgeted around the grip.

A metal gauntlet…?

"I don't have a right arm, Snake. So I have a metal glove. Stop looking at it."

And the thing in the abyss launched itself upwards, landing on two hunched legs, two arms, thick like tree trunks, bent over at the back, supporting meaty hands swinging to and fro like bear paws with nothing to do. Amethyst rockets droned where they rested in pods suspended above bulked, rounded shoulders. Two eyes, red and glistening, stared out from behind a smoky mouthplate that covered its snout. It was all black, seemingly made of shadows, shadows that could touch, sense, move… Kill.

It roared, a king of beasts, and that roar seemed to move time backwards, until all of them were standing in the midst of a desert, watching as this behemoth towered above the smoking sands and rotting cliffs, facing three swordsmen.

"I had just heard about what the others did to defeat Galleom, but we weren't there." Zelda laughed to herself suddenly. "We will have to improvise."

What…?

"This should do it," Zelda whispered, like she was speaking to herself. Her gauntlet slid out from her sleeve, a shining knight ready for war. The blade she held between metal fingers flipped to her other hand.

In her open metallic palm burst a brilliant flame. Born from nothing.

The fire seemed to enlarge tenfold as it flew from her arm, leaving a prismatic trail of heated color behind, a comet in orbit around a celestial body. It hummed, and as Galleom raised an unlit arm up, the orb of flame sank into the beast's chest.

A moment later it exploded. Individual shards of darkness, flickering like lost data on a computer screen, spread outwards, propelled on a wave of superheated air. Galleom staggered as if in reply to a punch, a hole in his impenetrable chest, ragged at the rims where a purple ichor dripped from sinewy veins of shadow.

The hand came down, a colossal guillotine made to behead gods belting upon the smooth earth. A clenched fist slammed, and the ground of obsidian, of frigid, hard substance bucked underneath, caving into the depths.

Zelda dodged, and Snake rolled to the right as Galleom withdrew his fist. He slowed into a crouch and rose.

Galleom's knuckles, the size of lampposts, caught Snake in the chest. He was thrown backward, and his shoulder met the ground a moment later and skidded along. Momentum ceased, and Snake remained where he lay.

Zelda appeared to Galleom's left. Already, her arm was in front of her.

A second orb appeared in Zelda's palm. It flew, energy in its stride and its blood, and melted into the grooves of Gelleom's helm. The humanoid tank swatted at its head, hitting unseen insects. Its body revolved on smooth bearings to face this maker of hornets, tamer of locusts, this… woman, clad in a black robe, one hand extended. With claws of steel, shimmering in a heat haze of red.

Those claws tightened, and Galleom's head ruptured into nothing, the explosion echoing and bursting like firecrackers overhead.

The rest of its bulk tailed after it, dissolving first from the collarbone down to the circular, ball-bearing waist, then to the flat-soled feet. Then, it melted, straight into the polished, marble-textured floor.

A grove of trees to the right seemed to sigh. The spectral dust that was once the essence of a Subspace tank expired under the fading horizon line.

Kirby peeked out from behind a trunk. His mouth widened until it was as wide around as a pomegranate.

Where was Galleom?

Kirby tagged along as Zelda stepped closer, one-two, one-two. She bowed over Snake, fingers crossed, teeth boring at gums. By the goddesses, stop doing that…

With fingers like small tufts of wind, she rolled him over onto his back. Already, her fingers were soaked in blood, blood that wasn't hers. Blood that should have stayed where it was, circulating through veins and arteries, going about daily tasks.

Blood that wept from an open whip-slash down his chest, blood that trickled down his chin and out of his nostrils, blood that poured out of his left shoulder, his lower back.

_Heal, _she thought, hand extended.

Nothing happened.

Zelda slumped to the ground, a jackhammer chiseling at her skull. Just a little more energy; you don't need much else… So close, and all you need is a little pick-me-up to get him back on his feet so we can permanently treat him. In the name of Din, please…

She thought her healing magic was good enough. But…

But of course it wasn't.

She bit down harder. Mouthing a silent prayer, she slid Snake alongside her. As she stood, she lifted him over her shoulder. She could feel the sticky warmth flowing underneath her robe, all the way to the skin.

Kirby looked up at her, one eyebrow raised.

Would he know?

Know what? What did he know? What did Zelda think he knew?

Zelda rattled her mask as she shook her head. "I bet Zero never saw that coming," she muttered, teeth still gritted and grasping at wet skin. The being at her side, that pink… person… merely bobbed along.

She ducked underneath a pallid branch leaking eerie purple sap that steamed in the cool dusk.

They walked, both noiseless, as Zelda led the way, carrying Snake's limp body on her shoulder.

XxX


	6. Elegy

XxX

_Elegy_

Somewhere later, Zelda and Kirby's walk grew to a run. The sounds of their footsteps blurred together as they sped between the trees, ducked underneath low branches. Kirby kept pace with her, his sword tucked away somewhere.

Zelda opened her mouth to speak. "We should have helped…"

"Poyo?" Kirby's question was thin, soft and forced as he carried himself onward, beating the earth with his steps.

"If I had stopped it before… If only…"

Kirby jogged now; he panted through their rushing quiet, the call of the wind.

"I missed, Kirby. I missed Galleom's head the first time, and if I hadn't missed, then, then…" Zelda tripped over her left foot, and the robe shielding the foot stiffened in callous reply. "I thought I had my powers down after I came here. I practiced and practiced, and I thought…" She lost breath then, and had to inhale. Her ribcage expanded as her arms swung alongside the rhythm of her legs as her chest ignited. "I thought I had everything in control. The fire, the teleporting, the—"

Zelda tripped again; her momentum carried her airborne over a root, tangled in the ground in spirals and loops. She was thrown under an overhanging branch, which posed silent in a midair strike, rearing at the sky.

She landed facedown, blood pooling in her mouth, and Snake tumbled off her shoulder. He came to rest close by and didn't move.

She got to her hands and knees, coughing and hacking.

Kirby was suddenly beside her, leaning over. He placed a hand on Zelda's arm and held it tight.

Zelda coughed some more, each hack sounding more nasal, bringing up more liquid. She crawled over and with shaking pulls, a lonesome creature in a merciless winter blizzard, was at Snake's side, heart in her mouth.

Around the slash down his chest pulsed a black starburst, the arms spreading in gaunt lines into his skin and farther into his bones, his muscles. Snake winced to himself, in his dreams and in his nightmares, hands clenching then loosening as the fingers relaxed, curling dry. His cheeks and mouth, sallow and white, seemed too thin, too strained.

She lifted an eyelid.

The iris…

Was it… black?

Zelda felt pressure in her cheeks. Warm liquid pooled in her mouth, leaking from a bit lip. "I had no idea," she breathed. "It… it wasn't this bad, was it?"  
Kirby shrugged. His eyes were blank.

If only he could talk, if only, if—

_Why don't you become the first to suffer with me? Then perhaps you won't be so lonely when everyone else suffers with us, hmm?_

"Shut up!" Zelda screamed, a raw howl that tore her throat and windpipe into shreds. "Shut up, shut up, shut up…" Her screams died out. "Shut… up…"

She pounded her knuckles into a tree trunk. "Zero…"

"Suffering is the one thing he knows best."

Zelda whirled, the growl, animal and unaccustomed to mortal language, chafing her eardrums. "Wh—"

And Lucario was there, blue and black fur illuminated in a pale sheen, paws moving about in reticence; no clicking, no tapping, no tugging. They glowed, bathed in a sapphire aura, warm like fires on glacial nights where stars are distant reveries, where people gather to talk, befriend—

_I wanted to show you something new._ _You all should see what this reality can do for the soul… Break it into little pieces, destroy every shard of dignity it has, or torture it until the end of time. Maybe you should—_

Zelda punched the tree again. Her metal hand screeched.

Lucario said, "What are you doing here? Didn't you want to kill Zero…? And yet, here you are, burdened by yet another living soul."

"Side trip," she muttered down at the floor.

Lucario nearly glided over. One paw over Snake, he whispered under his breath, the aura around his palm widening until it bathed them both in something like blue fire. Zelda peered through. The bleeding stopped. Snake's breathing steadied.

"I'm not a doctor," said Lucario, "but I suppose I could fill in." He leaned over and threw Snake over his own shoulder, where the mercenary's body jolted once before settling, curled idly over Lucario's back. "Come with me."

He darted between prickly bushes, dark foliage that seemed to draw back their vines and branches in respectful serenity as Lucario passed by.

Zelda followed, dragging Kirby by the stubby, fingerless hand behind her as she ran behind Lucario into the undergrowth.

XxX

As Zelda caught up to the Pokémon, she said, "Anything changed? Did you find anything since the last time we met?"

"If I remember correctly, the last time we met was at least three days ago. I am still no good at telling time here. So, no, I did not find anything new. And besides, there are a lot of things I have failed to tell you."

"'Failed to'? Or, 'am not willing to…?"

He gave a half-splutter, half-cackle. "Perhaps both. And I take it you haven't found anything new, either, or else Zero-Two, bane of all that is good, would already be scattered as dust into the wind, eh? Or, would you even be brave enough to try? Try to… dethrone him, I mean? After all this time?"

Zelda felt her eyelids narrow in on themselves. "I'd do well regardless."

"You're avoiding the question." Lucario stopped in his tracks. "But I wouldn't blame you if you backed out. Zero is… a devastating adversary."

"Isn't that what he wants? For me to give up, lose everything?"

"Haven't you already?"

Zelda was silent.

"No," she said after a while. "Not yet."

Lucario snorted, and as a jackal it sounded harsh, grating. "You do well to keep that up." He held an unoccupied arm out to a tree, caressing the bark as one might stroke hair.

The tree seemed to cleave down the middle. Zelda partly expected the tree to explode; it was frothing at the tips of the branches, and the orbs suspended as berries seemed to inflate, filling with some eccentric substance. As the halves fell, steam curled and flowed like liquid downward, a clean, watery steam that beckoned into an abandoned factory, cluttered with lost contraptions of bronze and steel, overtaken by legions of scrap metal.

From the base of the cleaved tree rose a rectangular obelisk, black, the edges flashing silver. Spirals and jagged patterns of light coursed through the stone, outlined with prismatic trails that gleamed in every color, seamlessly turning red to blue, green to white, following a sloping rhythm. A symbol, a letter that harkened back to an ancient language, blazed in those same polychromatic lines.

The tree halves around it dissolved into powder.

"The tree'll regrow," Lucario said simply. "Don't bother wondering how." He pressed a paw to the symbol, and the symbol disappeared, faded away from top to bottom. So did the door.

An entrance that spilled into darkness gestured to them.

Lucario stepped over the threshold, his entire body already submerged in an inky-black night.

Zelda waited, Kirby holding onto the fringes of her robe as he stared, his other hand grasping at empty air. Maybe, he was looking for his sword?

She grasped Kirby by the hand once again, siblings in a crowded park, the larger one leading the smaller into places unknown.

This time, Kirby followed willingly.

Darkness was all Zelda could see. Then, a torch floating in the void nearby breathed with a building _fwoomp¸_ and purple fire gushed over the edge, billowing over a cauldron. The reflection bounced against a black wall, made of murky crystal, free of jagged edges and coarse bumps.

There was a second _fwoomp, _then a third.

Torches were aligned in even measurements along the crystalline walls, outlining cramped hallways with low ceilings and the frames of rigid doors, all shining with similar runes as before.

Zelda looked back, fleetingly, eyes begging for flowing light and casting aside the cramped flames. The door behind had closed, and the purple torchlight reflected behind her, flinging her shadow all over.

A silhouette ahead of her growled, "It'll open if you want. But I have a feeling you want something else than that."

"How did you know?" Zelda grumbled softly.

If Lucario heard, he didn't reply.

There was a plodding cascade of rumbles, low like the snores of large bears curled in their winter dens. Then, another doorway seemed to appear in front of her like the aperture before, exuding a cool pneumatic swirl of fog.

She stepped through and stopped behind Lucario. Once the fog cleared, she peered about, no longer holding Kirby.

Kirby marched to her side.

It was a small, square room, reminiscent of a cabin in the forest, the untamed wilds. The bed was covered by a white sheet. It looked unused, and the blankets were unruffled. A pillow leaned in a slanted arc at the head of the mattress, propped up against the plain black headboard. A bulb, shimmering in every shade of the rainbow, sat on a stone dresser nearby.

And there was a torch on the wall, purple like the others outside in the hallway. It might have been a trick of the eyes, but it seemed to shine with a second layer of gentle sparks, an outer shell of soft-baked light.

Zelda shivered. But not from the cold. It felt good, the heat, warming her muscles, her bones. "This place has changed from the last time I saw it." She chucked. "And I still don't know how you got all this. Even so, I like it."

"You think?" With measured movements, a slight bend of the back and arm, Lucario set Snake on the bed, shuttered eyes facing the crystal ceiling. As he did so, the jackal replied, "I wanted to make myself as comfortable as possible. We'll be here for a long while, so I thought it would be nice to renovate…" His words smothered themselves out.

Zelda took off her robe and folded it up. She pulled up an ottoman nearby and sat down, the strings that held her up on her feet torn and shredded. The folded robe plopped down next to her. Kirby sat next to the pile, sighing, wide feet shaking slightly, just enough to be noticeable.

The cushion's texture was firm, yet fluffy, just like her bed at the mansion, where, on a regular day, with wind whisking through the building and the orchard outside, she would—

Zelda pinched the bridge of her nose. _Don't think about that._

"I would offer you tea or a drink of some kind, but you don't need it," Lucario said. "And I don't even have any."

Zelda felt a growl build in her throat.

"But, not in the way you think." Lucario let his gaze wander, and it examined the room, the torch, the lamp. It settled straight on Zelda, then drifted onto Kirby, flotsam lost in a turbulent storm at sea. It finally alighted on a window, open to the putrid, cool air. "Here, the need for food and drink abandons all, but the desire doesn't. We remain tired, we remain sleep-deprived, we remain dirty and covered in filth, but you will find no one here fighting over nutrients of any kind. At least, not in a desperate sort of way. Somehow, we don't need it. I suppose we could eat something if we wanted to savor the taste..."

"If Zero wanted us to suffer, do you think that he should have kept that desire…?"

"We're suffering either way, I think. Whether we're hungry or not." A shallow, toothy smile broke Lucario's canine muzzle. "Perhaps you could think of it as a kind of… limbo."

"Maybe." Zelda looked down at herself. "But we're alive."

"No one I know would call this living." He studied the man lying on his bed, arms akimbo, fingers flopping off the sides of the covers. Snake's chest trembled as it rose and fell, his chest changing colors until it resembled a black tree, like the ones outside. "Except, maybe—"

Wait…

Lucario rushed over to the bedside. The skin covering Snake's ribcage throbbed with mottled veins, pumping ink all around. His fingernails were already blackened, seeming as if they had been dipped in soot.

Without turning to face Zelda, he asked, "Are his eyes red?"

"Yes."

Something in Lucario's mouth chafed. Zelda heard it: the bones, the teeth screeching, chipping away at one another in tests of strength. He gestured, rushed as if late for an urgent meeting. "There's a drawer. Middle one."

Zelda followed his paw. It pointed to the dresser with bulbous lamp, the one light fixation that flashed purple. Din's fire, why is there so much purple and black…

"And what's in the drawer?" Zelda's mouth asked, speaking before her brain proper had the words.

"Just look."  
The drawer slid open with nary a whimper, a whisper, a vocalized complaint. Inside, scattered amongst empty vials and metal measuring spoons, lay a single strip of leather, thick like tree bark.

"And why would you need this?"

"Don't bother asking." He leveled his stare at Zelda, who hunched over the cabinet, sharp metallic face coated in light. She didn't meet Lucario's eyes. Couldn't. "Why didn't you tell me any earlier? These wounds, these whip-marks… Why hadn't I seen it? Zero…"

Zelda peeked upwards to the bed, where Lucario had one paw, humming with an azure glow, over Snake's heart. Her stomach climbed to her throat. "What are you…?"

"Just bring it here."

Something clicked inside her head. "Why would you wake him up for this? Wouldn't it be better if he stayed unconscious?"

"Yes, it would. When I try to purge this from him, he won't be."

Zelda wrung her hands, twisted the leather there. She approached Lucario, gave him the leather strip.

Lucario bent over Snake, gently shook his shoulder, his face expressionless.

Coughing, Snake blinked his eyes open, steadied his breath. His eyes blurred out and focused on Lucario, taking in the Pokémon's ears standing tall, the glow in his canine eyes. Why… why was Lucario here? And, and was anyone else nearby? He… he couldn't be the only one around—

Lucario handed him the leather strip. "Bite down hard," was all he said.

Snake obliged, and saw Lucario bend away from his head and lean over his bare chest. But… his outline was fuzzy, like he was underwater, in a different world.

When the first arcs of blue light sank into Snake's chest, the world melted into the shadows, and all Snake felt was pain. Pain, and nothing else.

XxX

"Hello." The unknown voice was the one who dragged Snake out of the abyss, anchored him in the darkness with grating noise. The pain had faded into the backdrop, and Snake was aware of sights, smells, sounds happening outside, somewhere far away, but…

He didn't have to worry about it now.

That could wait.

"It's interesting to see you, to have you recognize my presence for what it is." The voice sounded strange, yet familiar… Perhaps, if the owner was a relative of one of Snake's acquaintances, that might be the reason. "I've been here for longer than you know, just not as… prominent as I am right now. So many things have happened in this space of times, things that you aren't aware of just yet."

Snake could have replied, but… But he didn't really feel like it at the moment. Something about speaking just didn't feel very appealing, and he would've preferred to stay silent for the moment. Here, in the dark, it was much better to keep his mouth shut.

And there was noise still playing in the background; there seemed to be a setting of chaos, pandemonium, and Snake could hear things happening around him, but they didn't matter. Not now.

"So, this is your new reality. Maybe I'd ask what you feel about it, but you don't want to talk. That's fine. Everyone talks in the end. It doesn't matter what I do… He'll be waiting, and you don't have a choice." The voice swirled around his head, a shadowy zephyr of empty thoughts, acerbic taunts. "You won't see the end until it comes. He calls you insects, pretenders. It's strange, the way he wants to prove things. It's unclear, then, what he wants to happen. But I think I understand. And you will, too."

It retreated into the dark, and Snake found himself reaching for it. He didn't want to go back; he wanted to stay, because everything was so quiet, and he wanted it to be quiet again. Life was just too… chaotic, too all-over-the-place to be useful.

He extended his arm, opened his hand, and the effort made liquid fire pour through his veins… The image of himself inside this miasma, this blackened void doubled over as bile rose up to his mouth. He curled up, withdrew his hand, and even that was painful, and even that sent lightning coursing down his spines. His legs were numb, and when he flexed them to take a step he toppled over…

Snake could barely hear the sounds of a struggle outside of the silence, the cloud that draped the world in night. What… what was that about?

The voice was back. "I don't consider myself as a prophet, and I don't have any reason but one. But, that reason is enough. You'll see. Nothing is escapable. Nothing can be prevented. You'll understand why all of this was necessary when the world falls apart around you, when you lose everything, when your life itself loses all meaning. You'll see. You all will."

It was gone, leaving Snake stranded in the dark, pain shooting through his limbs and cleaving his head in two.

After a time, the voice faded completely, and the numbness melted to the black of dreamless sleep.

XxX

When Snake awoke, Zelda was holding his arms down, and the strip of leather was clenched in between his teeth. Lucario was standing nearby, his paws gleaming with sapphire light.

And… and his throat was raw, and Snake could feel something warm dribbling down his chin from one nostril.

W— was his nose bleeding…?

"That… that failed spectacularly," Lucario could be heard muttering. "That did nothing…"

Zelda whirled around to face the Pokémon, and even watching her as she did so made Snake dizzy, like the world was spinning around him. "What? Then, why did you do that?"

"I thought it would work, but… I underestimated him. I didn't know he'd… I just… Of all the things he could have done, he… One more, when I was sure he was done. I was sure he would never do that again. I didn't know."

"Lucario… Can, can you cure this?"

He shook his head. "I'll have to get back to you on that. I'll… I'll just go and figure something out. I'll let you know."

Lucario's voice faded from earshot, and his paws stomped toward the doorway, down the hall.

Zelda settled herself down on Snake's bed, facing the window. "I hope you're doing fine, Snake. It's… All of this is just… I'm too used to this, I guess. Too used to things going wrong."

Snake spoke, and it was as if glass had just been thrown down his throat. "It's fine," he rasped. "I'm fine."

Zelda merely looked at him. She knew better.

XxX


	7. Parallels

**A/N: Thanks for reading this far! If you have anything to tell me, feel free to.**

XxX

_Parallels_

The time had passed endlessly, relentlessly into the next day, the borderless dawn that awaited them.

As Zelda stared out the window soundlessly, she heard gentle footsteps behind her. Without turning around, she said, "Is he doing all right?"

Lucario sighed and sat down on the cushion next to her. "He's been asleep for a long while now. I don't know how long it's been, but… He's still resting, and I assume he will remain that way for some time."

He leaned closer. "What aren't you telling me, Zelda? What happened with you and him, those few days ago? I see you, carrying Snake's nearly lifeless body as he bleeds out over your shoulder. How… how did this come to be?"

She told him. His eyes focused on her unblinkingly; she caught herself as she faltered, as she fumbled over her words. "I… I met Kirby, who was with Snake. We stuck together after that, but…"

"Zero came along…?"

Zelda nodded. "You saw what he did.

Now Lucario was the one averting his gaze. He mumbled, "It's been so long since anything notable had happened. And you… I haven't seen you in what I assume would be ages. I thought that, perhaps, things had settled down, and… And Zero had… consolidated his place, his rule."

"Well," Zelda grunted, "I won't let him do that, anytime soon."

"I thought he already had, you know." Lucario folded his arms underneath the spike on his chest. "You were the one who wanted to go after him. I know it was just a small idea, just a thought; maybe you didn't want to commit fully. But… What about now?"

To that, Zelda had no reply.

Lucario quickly sat up, extended his hand. "Here. I need to do a few checkups on that arm I made. It's been a while."

She took Lucario's paw and rose to her feet. Zelda had never noticed how shaky she was until she put her weight on her knees. She clenched her teeth as Lucario supported her. "Sorry, Luc. And… thanks."

He stared blankly, then nodded. "This is how it should be."

XxX

"Hold still. Your arm is… not in the best of conditions. I'm glad you came by, if only so I could repair it."

Zelda winced, drew in her chest. "My magic's been malfunctioning. Is this why?"

"Could be," Lucario said as he narrowed his eyes, gazed intently at a fissure that ran the length of Zelda's metallic palm and worked its way down to her wrist. "Or maybe it's something about Dark Star, the way magic here works. And there certainly is magic, which is potent enough to keep us isolated from any sort of civilization."

"Should it hurt this much?"

"Normally, it shouldn't. Pain receptors are ideal ways to keep the body away from danger. Or, rather, mostly ideal. They don't always help."

Rubbing her forehead with her free hand, Zelda flinched back into her chair as Lucario tapped her metal knuckles. She sat up straight as a shock ran down her back. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure the connections between your arm and the rest of your nerves are up to par. You never know what could go wrong."

Zelda growled as a current of energy jolted along the bones in her shoulder. "About my magic. Is there any way to restore it…?"

Lucario glanced up briefly from his work, his eyes shining with the blue aura from his paws. "I don't know. Is there? It's up to you, and how you want to figure it out. Every brand of magic is slightly different; the most potent kind comes from the heart. You knew that already, I'm sure."

She nodded. "I was just wondering."

"Not sure whether I could help. You know your magic best, how it feels to cast it. I will leave that in your hands, both of which, I may mention, are working wonderfully now."

The Pokémon straightened his back, stretched his arms out to the side, above his head. "That should get you by. If not, well, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Zelda looked down at her gauntlet, ran a finger along the mended edges, the nonexistent scars. "That looks fine. Thank you."

Lucario nodded, and beckoned Zelda out the door.

She took a step across the landing when Lucario grabbed her shoulder, gently. "I'll be with you all in a moment; I need to clean up. If you are sure you want to leave, leave swiftly. And…" His words faded out.

"Yes, Lucario?"

He hesitated, then said, "Look out for yourself. Do what you must to ensure that you live. And… Maybe you won't listen to this, but… Trust nothing and no one. Not completely."

Zelda paused and replied after a moment, "I will."

XxX

Zelda ruffled through a low cabinet, hands flying about in a mad sprint. A rusted dagger, rubies in the hilt and in the crossguard, flew over her shoulder, striking a torch. It clanged off, and the torch remained snug and tight in its holder. But, the flame… It reared up, spewing extra flickers, then relaxed.

She stopped and leaned back on her knees as Kirby peeked in next, rifling through clothes, articles, badges, old papers that crinkled and rasped under life's touch, anything in his way. Something caught his eye. It was a spoon, wooden with swirls of tan timber, splintered along the handle, almost dyed red.

Why was it dyed red? Why not, say, dark brown? Or pink? Or polka-dotted yellow? Why did it have to be red?

Kirby grumbled, mouth set thin, and put it back in the drawer, in the far corner.

Spoons wouldn't help.

As he rummaged some more, sometimes bending up and over the edge, digging for something deeper inside the drawer, Zelda looked about the room. Eyes gleaned through the glow of fogged torches, glanced over a worn coat of arms, a steel shield with the top half cut clean off…

She saw it, lying on another shelf.

She bit her lip, okay, now that was a bad habit, and tightened her metal hand. That was, too.

Zelda rose slightly. Her hand tightened again, then again. All the time, the metal screeched and creaked, moaning, a mirror of her own thoughts, of ideas and memories that seemed to—

Then Lucario was in the room, paws hanging limp at his sides. The aura, the blue sheen they carried like gloves, was nothing now. "Find anything?"  
"Yes, we did. We found stuff. Just… not useful stuff." Zelda settled back down, suddenly very aware of… it, on that shelf. It was taunting her and sticking its tongue out, laughing at her scrunched face, her downtrodden eyebrows. "Or stuff I'd like to see."

"Hmm. Every item here has a story to tell."

She wanted to point out that these items couldn't talk. They couldn't recount details, they couldn't remember days gone by. But maybe…

Snake walked in silently and stood next to Lucario. He kept glaring down at himself and the tops of his feet clad in black boots, as if they were being offensive and making rude gestures. Were they? "I don't find this wardrobe change amusing."

"It's your last day here with me. Be glad for clothing that may someday save your life."

"Yeah, well, you coulda picked something less…"

"Nostalgic? It wasn't exactly my choice. Need I remind you that I wasn't there when you wore this? It appeared at your bedside one morning. That's all."

"Wait…" Zelda poked in. She could see it… That same suit Snake wore to the third tournament, the skintight one, all gray and dark, a corset wrapped around his lower back. She almost snorted. The image... Her lips tightened, the edges pulling upwards in a sly arc.

Zelda looked up, and saw his face. His mouth was set in a thin line, lips pursed, eyes bright with something far off.

Her own smile fell.

Then, she looked again, and her eyes widened. This suit wasn't exactly the same… Sure, there was the element of gray, the skintight material, but there was the black body armor that covered his chest on top, the extra pads on the elbows and knees. "Why does that look so familiar, yet so different?"

"Because it is different." Lucario murmured, "It's an old one."

"I don't think you were there," Snake said, and there was a growl in his voice.

"What? At Shadow Moses Island, in your human year 2005, in your cold, barren month of February?" The words out of Lucario's mouth suddenly stung, piercing underneath the rich tone, the barking rumble. "It's still considered suffering, isn't it? What you experienced? And how should that be any different than where we are now?"

Snake didn't reply.

And suddenly the air was thick, thick with unspoken thoughts that would expire and crumble to nothing, to dust gathered in shadowed corners until someone came years later to sweep up the desiccated ashes.

A cough escaped Zelda. She bunched a clenched fist to her mouth, closed over the cough. It had already left. "So, ah, Snake. What supplies do you have?"

"Just this." He pulled it out of its sheath. Even short, even stocky, it sang, it gleamed with the fervor of a broadsword, or of a battle axe.

"One knife?"

"I don't have much firepower here in the armory." Lucario stared down at his feet, crossing his arms over his chest, underneath his chest spike. "And Snake didn't want an actual sword or anything… I found him a knife, if that's of any help."

Snake turned the blade over. The hilt, leather-wrapped below a simple crossguard of iron, sank into his hand. The grooves matched his fingers, and the weight… He couldn't feel it. "It fits well."

"I suppose that weapon will be helpful, then," Lucario said. "I hope it is…"  
Kirby peeked out of the drawer and sat back on his haunches. He shook his head, or body, side to side, eyes downcast and cloudy.

Suddenly, he perked up, and walked across the room, to that shelf.

Oh, gods…

Kirby walked back, the repulsive thing in his pink hands.

All of the eight strings had snapped. Some were snapped at the top, the rest snapped out of their slots at the bottom. The ends were curled like lazy tails lying in the afternoon sun, their cares having melted away. The golden paint, or covering, or metal, or whatever, had peeled, revealing plain wood. Wood, just wood, shaped in a small U, capped with decorative curls. Dust mottled the surface, weaving across the wood and decorative patterns in a thick shell.

She took it, hands trembling. It wasn't like they were cold. "Where did you find this? It was lost in the mansion." As if her hands were thinking differently, they fed the strings back into their places, unfurled them in a slow trailing of fingers.

"It wasn't my choice to have any of these items appear here. They just… did. I can't hope to explain it."

Zelda choked on something. Saliva. Maybe. "I gave this harp to Link… And he never gave it back…"

Snake bent over her, staring at the cursed instrument, eyes open wide. "Why?"

"Because before he could give it back, Zero had…" She let out a rattling breath that shook her lungs, her bones. Without thinking, her hands tensed and clenched. Underneath, the strings yelped, pinging. They were completely out of tune. "Zero arrived, and we were here. And I never found it."

She stared at the wall as the strings were tuned, as her ears and hands did the work for her. Twisting, plucking to make sure the open strings sounded right. One string aligned, and then another, until all of them were the right pitch, waiting to be pressed and strummed, waiting to—

Oh, gods. Oh, gods. She couldn't help it. Farore knows how long it had been since she last touched an instrument, blew into an ocarina, plucked a harp…

And her fingers began to move.

They sang like liquid water, warbled like a running stream through a forest blanketed in silence. The song was haunting; the melody fell down and seemed to pick itself up with a weight on its shoulders, the low fog hanging on its back. The accompanying harmony was dragging along, its feet still in the ground yet still moving. One step, then another. One-two, one-two.

Zelda closed her eyes, and still her fingers played. One chord, then the next, fell in line, seaming into one after the other. The notes took their turns, humming, ringing into the following notes once their respective turns were done. Still, they stayed, to wait out the show, to linger until the curtains fell.

The last note was plucked, the last chord played through.

She opened her eyes, opened her eyes to look into Snake's blue ones, sparked with electricity. Lucario was vaguely bobbing, moving his head along to a tinny, ghostly rhythm, a rhythm that had faded long ago.

Kirby was staring up at her, eyes dancing inside to that same ghost rhythm played by those in the afterlife. The light danced on his face, in a sloping, galloping way.

Hurriedly, as if she were missing an appointment, Zelda put the harp down, but then it moved slowly, slowly, don't hurt it now… It seemed to stretch out, not for the earth under it but for her hands again, for her hands to play, to sing and dance under a still moon, and, Farore's wind, to be carried away on a gentle breeze. A breeze that spoke of lazy afternoons, the haze stirring the plants and stoutly carrying his ocarina's melody—

And that melody would reach a faraway land, and carry with it the selfsame gait and straight back, reserved gaze it carried when it flew from the ocarina that first taught her—

Zelda bit her lip again. The people before her were blurred.

Why was her eye moist?

"The Song of Healing," Lucario said, and his voice was a whisper. "By Arceus's name, I have not heard that song in… ages, not from the ocarina, not from the harp. Millennia, it seems… By Arceus…"  
And he got up. His voice was raised now, and that whisper was gone. "Follow me. I suppose you want to leave now, get a good head start."

He ushered them out the door. But he never rushed, he never ushered people out. Why now…?

Then they were outside, through the dark halls lit only by purple torches. Past the bathhouse, past Snake's room, past the other doors, doors that led through and into darkness…

As she stepped outside, surrounded by black trees, she grasped her hand tighter. The harp was still in it. She tucked it into the satchel over her shoulder, closed the flap tight over it.

Lucario, at Snake's side, threw something at him. Small, compact, blurring in lines of motion. Liquid blue sloshing inside, frothing at a wooden cork on top.

Snake reached out and caught it.

"One small sip should last a day. I measured it out… There should be enough for two weeks or so. Maybe less, maybe more. You might need more if anything happens, if your inversion acts up." All this time, the jackal looked at the ground between his paws, never looking up, left, right. He wouldn't meet Snake's eyes, or Kirby's, or Zelda's… "And don't think you'll be able to come back for a refill. By the time Zero is in reach, I'll be a long ways away."

Snake tucked it in a pouch belted at his right thigh. "Then come with us," he said. "You'd be helpful."

Lucario immediately shook his pointed head. Left, right. Left, right. His… bangs… bobbed along with him. "Forgive me. I cannot bring myself to go along. I… I…" He breathed deep, and his chest expanded. "Perhaps I don't want to. Perhaps I do. And perhaps I cannot bring myself to face Zero again."

The he raised his face, and his eyes alighted upon Zelda. But not on her face, or on her eyes. On her satchel, where her harp still lay, dormant but wishing for more song.

Zelda didn't say anything. His eyes, the way they focused, and yet hung in the distance…

"I can give you directions. Go left from here, and follow the sound of running water. When you get close, there's a stream; go parallel along it, towards the horizon. The stream will dip into a canyon, and the canyon runs perpendicular to the horizon line. When you reach the end of the canyon, the horizon line will be there right in front of you."

Zelda clenched her fist. She couldn't help it. "As will Zero's palace."

Lucario's eye seemed to twitch, and he turned around, once again facing the tree.

"I'd wish you luck. But I won't."

All three of the travelers glanced at him. Kirby jolted up from the ground and fixed wide eyes on the Pokémon.

"Because there isn't enough to go around."

The tree dissolved, the door appeared in the midst of the plant, and then Lucario was gone, back into his shelter.

XxX


	8. Lament

XxX

_Lament_

"Zelda."

"Hmm?" She had her head down, watching her feet move along, gliding on the surface. One-two, one… Agh. One-two, one-two, one… The rhythm was off. So much for that.

So she looked up. Her feet moved along, and of course, the rhythm was off. Well. "Hmm?" she asked again.

Snake fingered the hilt of his knife, belted at his waist. His steps were silent. They made no sound, no sound at all… "Nevermind. I'll ask later."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. She would have raised both, but her mask got in the way. The touch of it… She was used to it; she had worn it for ages, now. But, still.

She had never taken it off since meeting Lucario again. Snake would be wondering, right? What would be under that mask of hers? A missing eye? Maybe something else… A monstrosity, an evil being of darkness…? Pfft.

Her head jerked, and then she was looking at Snake, feeling her one visible eye widen. Then, it narrowed.

She shook her head and returned her gaze to the path ahead of her. He had said nothing, hinted at nothing. Wait it out. You'll see. It's all a matter of time before he sees you for yourself… Right? Sometimes that never really happens, like with Link, when he—

She stepped and felt empty air. Zelda froze with one leg propped up.

Zelda looked down.

The ground slanted suddenly, into a low pit. The slopes ramped up in a steep incline. The bottom was littered with trees, shrubs, tall black grasses wreathing the area and waving in a cold, nonexistent wind, flags fluttering to the sound of nothing.

She lowered her foot, and then lowered a second foot.

They were climbing down the side, slowly, unrushed. Snake nearly tripped, nearly fell face-first. He caught himself using the slope as a handhold. His feet anchored themselves, his body stiffened.

Zelda looked over. Since when did he ever trip? The last tournament was a tripping disaster, sure, but that was only because the floors were kept so ungodly clean between rounds that one time when they had to—

Snake's cheekbones stood out, almost too much. His eye sockets sank into the skin, craters in a shallow, snow-white face. And, his eyes. Blue…?

One, his left, was now red.

Zelda felt her chest tighten, her lungs squeeze. Why hadn't she ever noticed…? "Snake, did it ever occur to you that maybe we rushed this?"

He grunted. No. No, we didn't rush this, we didn't, so shut up and keep walking. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine," muttered Zelda, low under her breath, the cold tickling her lips, the inside of her mouth.

Snake didn't reply.

They trudged into the tall grasses. She glanced back, up at the top, above the lip of the fissure. Zelda could still see the very tips of the stolid tree branches above, still spiraling up to the heavens, clawing their way through the dark clouds and tearing down the sky, the stars, whatever was in the middle of their own respective roads.

The wind was howling now, but then it faded. It howled, then faded. The sky seemed to twinkle everywhere, take on a shade of lighter purple-black before the wind howled some more, keening as if in deep mourning.

Gods… Why was everything so… dark?

Zelda shook her head again. How many times had she shaken her head so far?

Out of the corner of her eye, Snake twitched. The twitch started in his upper shoulder and spread, down through his body. The shades in his face, the colors, went through every tint of white, from pure white to gray-white, to—

He stopped to lean against a tree. He tilted his head back, until that was leaning against the tree, too, with his hair getting caught in the bark. His left shoulder pulsed.

It may have been the lighting, or her imagination, but the part of his neck that was visible…

Was it turning gray? Black?

"You should drink that potion Lucario gave you. It wouldn't hurt."

Snake shook his head. He dragged his gloved right hand over his face, fingers against the bridge of his nose, his eyebrows. "I'm fine," he said. Again. Cursed human… "I'm saving it."

Zelda snorted. Through the mask, it echoed and clanged. "Okay."

They stood there. One leaned against a tree, one stood in the open. Zelda's hand strayed off the path to her satchel, to the pocket with the harp. The flap opened under her metallic fingers, then closed. Open, close. It stayed closed.

Kirby was there, sword drawn. He, the sword, was pointing into the colorless grasses, the undergrowth of sickly brambles and bushes. Waving it about, pointing in various directions off to his left and right…

"Poyo," he mumbled. His sword gleamed as streaks in the sky swirled around it. "Poyo."

Zelda leaned down, eye keen on the grasses waving to a ghost rhythm, colder, from a darker part of the world. "Kirby. Tell us if you see anything."

He nodded and continued to point his sword.

"Aren't you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"That he's not helping."

She shrugged. "He can believe whatever he wants to. Who knows? And I don't want to jinx us again… That was… Agh. I would prefer not to repeat that."

Snake, still leaning against the skeleton tree, clenched a fist. A vein in his neck popped out. Maybe… Black coloring was working its way through that vein, up and up, worming closer to his jawbone. Then it stopped. Just stopped, like it had hit a wall, slammed into a barricade, collided with a fortress.

His chest fell, unclenched along with his hand. He forced a breath through his mouth. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Zelda couldn't help it. She looked at him, and made sure her eye, her good eye, was narrowed. "Really? Because it would be a shame to see you reduced to something I have to carry around because you can't move or do anything on your own."

Snake met her eye with his own two eyes. One blue, one red. Gods… That was… strange. "I won't be."

He brushed himself off and stood up, letting go of the tree.

She turned, turned to continue into the grasses. Somewhere ahead, there was a gurgle, a gurgle of water through a tract in the ground. Perhaps… And she could hear it. Faintly, a slight moan, whisper. Soft, but it was there. Somewhere ahead, and they would get there soon enough. And once they were at the river, they'd follow it to—

Something whipped past her cheek, the one with the mask over it, her left. She could feel the temperature drop, the sudden gush of air. It arced past her head.

A hollow clang hit her, bouncing off, and the thing suddenly felt warm. Warmth as a liquid ran down her pointed ear. It snapped at her hair and sped off.

She stepped to the side, drawing her sword in her metal hand.

The thing thudded into a tree. She heard the _thwack¸ _the meaty impact as the object cut into bark.

Snake was there, bent at the knees with his knife drawn, eyes darting about. Kirby was next to him, sword still pointing this way, that way, up, down.

In front of them came a howl. It was the wind, sure… But it sounded miles away, underwater and submerged in the depths.

The object… She turned to look.

It was an arrow, fletched in familiar colors, the diamond head embedded halfway through a tree's trunk, stark against the black surface.

And it had come from in front of them.

There. A rustle. The upper branches of a tree ahead, towering high above the others to get to the heavens, rustled, then rustled some more.

Something blurred atop it, and the blur settled in front of them.

Zelda's hearing dimmed, until she was hearing things through a tunnel. The tunnel went on and on, and everything else around her… the trees, the hollow grasses… faded out of sight. Her heart squeezed, as did her lungs, as did her metal hand. She could hear it: the tightening of fingers around the hilt, choking the material it was made of. Snake didn't notice; neither did Kirby. They were still staring ahead, staring with eyes open wide as the blur settled into something visible. They didn't look at Zelda, didn't see her reaction, didn't know that she could sense it—

But she knew, long before she could see it, long before the motions blurs faded.

The sword it… he… carried had a purple hilt. The cap on his human-shaped, chiseled head was green; it didn't match his bleached, bone-dry skin, gray and black spinning underneath. Gray hair fell ragged against his white cheeks, his stark pointed ears.

His eyes, she knew, were both red. She didn't need to look.

The blade of her sword burst into flames. She could sense it: the warmth, summoned from nothing, flickering up, licking the sides of the metal. Her hand, her magical hand, was shaking. Control it, control it…

She raised it, pointing it forward at eye level. But her hand… Her hand was shaking. Zelda took a step back, sword still pointing forward. Just for some space…

He lunged in a fraction of a second, a moment, his sword withdrawn from the sheath. And she shifted her arm, raising her own sword in response. The flames roared, reaching out for him, and the metal clashed together, blade against blade, Zelda against—

"Link," she said, voice strained, choking… she could barely hear herself over her own heartbeat, her wheezing breath, "You've done enough."

He kept coming, kept swinging, parrying, stabbing and thrusting forward in a bolt of dark lightning. His eyes were wide, wide and red with the fervor of cold storms, whipping against all that lay in their paths as they sped, spun in flurries, whirls of raging wind. _Clang, clang. _Then, _clang, clang. _Again, again, and again. And Zelda was caught amidst, amidst a storm she couldn't turn her back on for fear it would stab her in cold blood.

But maybe her own sword was enough. Maybe it would help.

Zelda's arm flashed, and Link sidestepped. She kept coming closer and swinging. Their blades still crossed, still wailed against one another. Just not as often. The flames had faded from her weapon, and now it shone, shone from a brief washing, cleaning.

He stared her in the eye as their weapons chimed again, crossing and slamming into each other at the tip, the crossguard. And his lips… They turned upwards, not into a smile but a snarl, a silent snarl that would have been more appropriate on a wolf, a coyote, a beast. But he wasn't. He hadn't been. But—

Oh, gods.

Gods—

_Clang, clang. _Link ducked under a stab, somehow catching the crossguard of Zelda's sword against his, the Master Sword's "wings" entwined with Zelda's hilt. Her metal knuckles bent out of shape, turning in an abrupt burst of motion, and then it, Zelda's sword, was out of her hand. It hit the floor, where it clinked to a standstill.

Zelda fell back, losing the ground she gained. Link lunged again, sword high above and ready to strike down.

Zelda tripped, one of her legs tumbling out from under her. She raised her left hand as her right was wrenched backwards, behind her. And it, her left hand and arm, burst into flame all the way from the elbow down to her fingers. But it didn't hurt, even though it was flesh and bone, even though it burned through her sleeve. It didn't… hurt…

Zelda shoved her left hand, fingers aflame, at Link's face. Somehow, he was caught off guard. Somehow he couldn't dodge, couldn't block or back up. Link landed on top of her as Zelda toppled on her backside.

His eyes, red eyes, glared from under her hand, cold and wintry like ice, and she felt something red-hot in her chest build—

And the flames suddenly flared in a surge of wrath, a fiery tidal wave frothing smoke. They ate at his skin, blazed white and orange against black, grayed flesh. She held her fingers over his face and suspended his body above hers, palm clasped tightly as it continued to sing, to burn. Zelda lay, squinting against the blaze, the fire from her own hand.

Link wrenched his face away in a twist of his neck. He stumbled away, closer to the grove of trees he came from, face smoking and peeling. Already, blisters were popping up and rupturing, rupturing like miniature volcanoes. He was falling over himself, swatting away midges that crowded around his eyes, that burned away his skin. The grasses parted to let him by, and he stumbled against a tree. His head knocked backwards.

He let go of his sword. It fell by his feet.

Zelda got up onto her own feet, waving like seaweed, seaweed in a trance, as Link writhed against the tree trunk.

He began to melt steadily, his clothes and mauled visage dripping down into a glob that had no features or face, a cursed snowman of black powder melting under a cursed midnight sun. Link's essence was becoming one with the tree, flowing into the bark, fusing with the boughs. But, then he seemed to be flaking off the tree, as pieces of him, pieces of his melted body dissolved like pieces of lost, corrupted data, like Galleom had—

And he was gone. The wind howled after him.

More like, _pieces _of him—

Zelda collapsed, her knees ignorant, unable to turn to her and lay a hand on her shoulder, to support her… She couldn't help it, gods, gods… She buried her face in her hands, gripping her mask. Her nose enlarged and something cursedly disgusting dribbled down on top of her lips, curse it all, why now, why, gods… Something cold, cool, wet fell down her face in a smooth arc, coalescing in a drop at her chin… Gods. And her palms were wet, she could feel her metal hand, now colder with water covering it, gods.

She didn't know how loud she was, if she was making any noise at all. She didn't know, but it didn't matter, she was allowed to cry, she was allowed, it was okay to cry…

"Zelda."

She lifted her head, wiped her cursed, wet face on the sleeve of her robe. "I-I'm okay. I mean," and a laugh escaped her mouth, escaped in a bubble of spit, as she choked, "I will be okay. Yes, yes. It'll be fine, it'll be—"

"Zelda!" Snake raised his voice, raised the volume and growled, growled like a dog, a cursed dog, a damnable dog, a… "Pull yourself together!"

Kirby walked up to her side, and pulled at her robe. He still held his sword in one hand, dragging the tip behind him…

Zelda, still wiping her face, still sniffling, rose onto her feet, onto the legs that wouldn't support her, legs that gave way—

And she found herself falling. Again. But something clamped over her shoulders, steadied her as she tottered forward, tiptoed, knees turned to jelly, sobs bubbling in her throat, pushing up and escaping out in gasping, hiccupping cries. Gods, gods. She leaned forward, leaned on Snake as her legs abandoned her, as she cried, and she couldn't stop, gods, why was this happening now when they needed to be running, gods. She was glad that Snake had sheathed his knife beforehand, that the blade was hidden and covered earlier—

Her chest convulsed, tightened as if something was wrapping around it in coils, over and over… Zelda could sense her arm twitching, trying to wrench away from the person next to her, the person holding her upright.

"Snake," she whispered. She couldn't hear herself; the world was falling, her ears were shut, pulsing with blood inside the veins, arteries… Maybe ears weren't supposed to have too much blood…

"What?"

"You can let go now."

He loosened his grip, and Zelda stood.

She leaned over to stare at the ground; she had lost her sword… Dropped it after Link had gone. She bent over, bent at the hip to reach forward and pick it up… The hilt felt cold, almost, even though the blade had been on fire just a few—

And she bit her lip. Bad habit, bad habit…!

The wind was howling again, tearing at the trees as it came from nowhere, originated from nothing and tussled the grasses, the branches, the ferns.

_Ahahaha…_

It was nothing, Zelda thought, head darting about, this way and that, a fish looking for food. It was just my imagination… Zero's not here; Zero couldn't have made that chuckle—

_Ahahahaha… _It was watery, submerged and covered in barriers, sounding far away through the grove. But it was still a chuckle, a laugh, and I should take it seriously, I should—

_You… are nothing…_

She grabbed Snake's right wrist and ran. The trees blurred, the grasses faded to a smudged line below her knees, her heartbeat was the loudest sound around her. Her ankle twisted; she couldn't feel it, her legs were pumping too hard. There was a cry from behind them; Kirby…? Maybe he had tripped? Fallen on his face? He'd have to catch up… Not a problem…

Zelda kept running. Her fingers… Her metal fingers were frozen around Snake's wrist. She thought and thought, open, fingers, open… as she ran, and she almost tripped… She could feel her toes crack…

Zelda's next foot slammed down and she continued, continued running. She didn't stop, even though she couldn't feel her ribcage, even though someone was driving a knife between her eyes. And her stomach, gods… There wasn't even anything in the cursed thing but it felt shut and tight, too tight, and her head began to throb with her stomach, yowling wildly and bouncing inside with too much force and it hurt, hurt like she was about to throw up, gods—

And then she was falling forward, tossed forward by something behind her, no, it was just her own momentum, pushing her ahead…

She landed not on the ground, not on the smooth, polished, purple earth, but in water. Water that trickled in between the slits of her mask that buoyed her hair in a wreath above her head, that carried her in a shower of excited bubbles, rising to the surface and carrying her along. Her satchel suddenly dragged down; in a moment it had become a weight that sank lower and lower, taking her along for the ride. It was cold… Gods… She couldn't see the bottom; it was too dark to see anything that far down… Gods…

She swam, arms pushing up, don't stop, go, go… Her head surfaced, and she gulped. The cold. Cold. She was shivering, and her legs hurt, but they were numb; she could still feel it and she didn't want to…!

The bank was a fuzzy line, blurred, but she reached out to it. Her hand slipped, but it was her metal one and that was what she had maybe been expecting… Zelda reached out again, with her left, and she gripped, gripped until she felt a fingernail crack on her hand. Maybe it was her pinkie—

Snake surfaced next to her, gasping, drenched hair plastered down his face. He spat out globs of water and grabbed onto the bank. He pulled himself up out of the river and plopped on his knees. His breathing… His left shoulder was throbbing. His left eye was red, still.

Kirby bobbed to the surface, and if she hadn't been thinking straight she would have assumed Kirby was a very pink apple of some kind. Wait, she wasn't really thinking—

"You could have gotten us killed," Snake growled as Zelda and Kirby pulled themselves up next to him. Snake was still spluttering, still wheezing from the bottom of his lungs. "Real smart, Zelda."

"Sorry," murmured Zelda. Her voice… It felt too cold. Nothing. There was nothing she could find in it, no warmth, no tone. "I heard—"

"You heard Zero. Yeah. I get it."

The princess, the queen— gods, titles didn't matter anymore— tightened her fist. Her right one. It would do more damage than her left if she punched something… someone. "They're looking for us. Link isn't dead; he did that before. He went off to tell them. Sorry, but we needed to get out of there. We'll see him again, I'm sure."

"Huh," Snake said. "And why are you so sure…?"

She didn't respond.

The silence was laced with frost, frost like the cold feeling floating about in the river in front of them.

Zelda tilted her head, and a stream of water followed from her ear. She tilted the other way, and more water splurged out onto the ground. She slung her bag off her shoulder and bunched herself up, knees close to her face as she shivered underneath her robe. Finally, breaking the frost, she let herself talk. "Drink that potion. I think it should help."

"Already did." Snake was putting it in the pouch at his thigh, below where his knife was sheathed. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," she flared. "No, you're not, and none of us ever will be, not until that damned eyeball is destroyed so that he never comes back—"

"D'you really think that's helping?"

Zelda closed her mouth but just as soon opened it again. "It makes me feel better, once in a while," she said, voice small and crunched up.

Somewhere in his throat, Snake chuckled. But… his chuckle had a hard, tough edge, a sharp, abrasive point. "I don't blame you." He flopped down on the ground, his back propped up against a tree hanging over the river's edge, his face set in stone and bathed in a blue, rippling light. His mouth set, he murmured, "You two get some rest. I'll take first watch."

"We… we just started out! It's only been a few hours since we left Lucario…"

"So?"

"But we're supposed to be running! Link and whatever damned reinforcements he summoned could be on us at any second!"

"So you'd run to certain death, then? Without rest?"

Zelda's mouth closed on its own. Her head throbbed in time with her arms and frigid, pale-numb chest, and she wanted nothing less than to punch Solid Snake in the face.

She tried to speak. What she tried to say next came out cracked, squeaky. "No."

He grunted, and the red in his left eye suddenly flickered, flickered back to blue, then to red again. He said, "I thought so."

When he didn't speak again, Zelda fell on her back, remaining where she was, right next to Kirby. Her eyes closed, and she drifted off.

XxX


	9. Revival

XxX

_ Revival_

Kirby was snoring; as soon as he woke up he could hear himself snort a final time before the bubble in his own mouth popped in an outward dome. He rubbed his pink head… Rubbed was accurate. He didn't have fingers.

His foot nudged something cold, hard. His sword lay at his feet in a kind of stupor, the metal unfeeling and bitter. Why was it bitter? Why wasn't it happy? After all, one could never be too happy.

He glanced around in fleeting bits and pieces, the dark sky spinning around him. He had forgotten to stow the sword…? So, then, he had carried it through the river while running with Snake and Zelda, carried it with him as he had been running? Why? Why hadn't he just stopped, concentrated for half a second, and put it away? This was the only weapon he had, and if he had somehow lost it, somehow dropped or misplaced it along the way… What then?

An image popped into his head, moving from one point to the next. It was an image where he didn't have a sword, where his inhaling, his great influxes of air didn't work, they didn't work and it wasn't helping the people around him and there was blood on the ground and on him. It wasn't his blood on him and that thought made his shiver…

Kirby rubbed his head again. Why would he shiver if it wasn't his blood?

Did he bleed? _Could _he bleed? Eh. When was the last time…? Eh. Can't remember right now. Try later.

He glanced over. Zelda was curled up on the ground, breathing softly. Snake was sitting against the tree, staring around as the blue light from the river bathed his face in waves of color.

It was then Kirby remembered. Ah, yes. In his mind's eye, he had a box full of little white cylinders of what felt like paper but had no use whatsoever, really… They didn't summon anything or burn anything up or destroy any of their enemies… Zelda had found it while looking through Lucario's stuff and had thrown it back inside the drawer… Hehe. Don't tell her, but it looked interesting, with all the white papery stuff inside…!

Kirby walked over and had the box in his hand a moment later.

Snake looked down, down on his round pink head, and stared at the box Kirby held. "Where'd you get that?"

Kirby gestured over at Zelda's form, which was curled on the ground, seemingly hugging something in its sleep. He returned his gaze upwards to Snake, whose face was frozen, set in hard granite. He had bags under his eyes.

After a moment, he said, voice low, "I quit smoking a while back."

Wh-what? So the box was full of cigarettes? Oh… Why did he stop smoking, then…?

Kirby watched Snake for a moment, watched those narrowed eyes and then watched the box in his own grasp. He let out a tiny sigh, no bigger than a small gust of wind or whatever made small sighing noises, and the box disappeared from his hand in a flurry, into the river.

Snake whipped his head, eyes keen, as the box sailed in an arc. It landed in a plume of water and was soon taken downstream, bobbing along with the current and dipping under as little baby waves crashed over it. Pfft. Baby waves…

The box bumped against a rock somewhere further downstream, and the rock… twitched, almost… The white mass of a cigarette box was moving farther away, farther away, it seemed, from the man who didn't really want it anymore… Hmm.

And the rock moved again. Yep, definitely twitched. Hummed with life and new purpose, grew in size as it rose out of the river—

A waterfall cascaded over them, back upstream towards them, a wall of liquid froth. And the waterfall fell over the banks, attacked the trees and grasses around it in fervor like a squall. The cold was numbing, and Kirby felt it, trickling into his insides and freezing his bones. Did he even have bones…?

_Tmp. Tmp. _Booms shook the ground, powered by dusty gears and waterlogged circuits. The thing, the vague shape hidden by mist, was pounding towards them, along the river's edge, two… claws extended. Claws, like the claws on a crab, or a lobster—

Zelda was awake, once again sopping and dripping, sword drawn. She threw herself to the side, slamming into Kirby and knocking him to the right. Snake rolled and landed on his feet.

Something hard met Kirby's face. _Hello, _he thought, flopping to the floor as it slapped him, blocked the breath that jumped out of his mouth. His sword was in his hand then, retrieved from his floating locker.

The beast's feet stopped, gears clanking several times before stopping. He could feel its presence: cold, clammy and dark with bony, skeletal hands, as if it were sucking the warmth from him, wrinkling his skin and snapping the cord that bound his life to his body.

Wow. That was—

And the beast, its coppery metal shell gleaming like the dark, obsidian shell of the sun, raised a rounded pincher to bring it down, to bring it down and squash them all like bugs—

There was an explosion, bright and burning with fever, and the beast wrenched its limb away, stumbling on large feet, beady red eyes still wide, wide and without any brows or lids, large and staring…

Zelda had her metallic hand extended, and that hand was still slightly smoking. She yelled, "Go around!"

Go around? Did that mean… go around the trees? The river? Any one of those could have worked in that context…

Snake dodged right as the pincer was brought down again, now melting from the heat of another flame from Zelda. His hand strayed to his knife but was yanked away as a second pincher descended down onto him. He rolled again—

But the foot of the thing, the foot of the strange lobster thing was suddenly in his way. He rolled, and the thing shifted to face him, and it raised its pinchers again to slam down on him—

And Kirby leapt, sword held high, and slashed. The metal screeched under the blade, screeched in protest, and the gears underneath whirred and clacked even more, blocking out the creature's cries, harsh and brittle cries that ate at his skin, that set it tingling on edge.

Kirby landed, ducked under a wayward swing from the tank, and slashed at a foot. It moved back, wires in the limb hissing and snapping like loose serpents, but Kirby pressed on. Stab, swing, stab.

The black carapace on the foot split, ghastly smoke spilling out of the rent armor in billowing clouds. The lobster… Heavy Lobster… backed up several steps with a limp in its gait, but Kirby did not press on. Why? This thing had come out of nowhere and had tried to kill them. Why? It was the rock's fault! So why wasn't he pressing on and trying to finish the job?

"Kirby! Go!"

Zelda and Snake ran past on one side of the behemoth, which was sitting there, teetering on the bank with one foot smoking and smelling of burnt food. Kirby had burned food once, while trying to cook for a visitor… He had gotten distracted, lost his butcher knife, misplaced the cake tray, and then he had forgotten about what was in the oven… that had been one of the better mistakes, though…

Kirby ran after them, and the smell, that burning smell was stagnant, until it was the only thing he could smell, and it was stabbing his nose, or whatever body part he used to smell.

An unearthly screech, loud and ringing, sounded behind him: the beast's quarry was getting away, moving farther and farther from its pinchers as each moment elapsed… The tension in the air was a string about to snap... Something moved behind Kirby; he felt the whooshing air of its passage, its revolution on its feet as it turned to face them—

There was a roar, a roar in a human voice, a higher-pitched scream followed by the thud of heavy metal, and the exhalation of a tongue of fire that seemed to come from behind him—

"Kirby! Move, you idiot!"

Kirby bounced to the side, the flames howling after him…

And his word was bathed in red, red flames that melted him as he fell onto his side, that sank their teeth into his body and would not retreat, and the fiery teeth in him were turning to knives and his blood was like molten poison inside, boiling him from within—

He met the earth with a thud, and the impact... The impact was muted… Like falling through clouds, except he couldn't feel it and he didn't know what falling through clouds felt like…

The red curtains of flame faded, and he blacked out.

XxX

Heavy Lobster was screaming, screaming skyward, claws wide and snapping, flames still billowing from the inside of the pincers. It stomped his foot as Kirby fell, sword clattering out of his smoking hands to lay to rest.

It turned its red, red beady eyes on two other smaller figures at his feet. It screamed again, and its good foot stomped forward. Snake dove to the side, pushing Zelda away as the foot struck, a metallic meteor keen on crushing them to a pulp, a boneless, spineless mush—

Zelda got to her feet and danced left and right as flames seared towards her, sword raised as she rolled and lunged away. Eyes, eyes that were red like blood-dipped berries, stared listlessly after her from the tank's head, shining with a bright, cold light.

It screeched and suddenly zoomed forward, feet gone and replaced by treads in a mere blink, a mere second's notice, frozen air moving aside as Heavy Lobster set its claws wide in front of it as it continued to drive forward, exhaust spewing from the pipes behind it in a rush, in white halos of smoke… Zelda was in the way—

A flash of blue met her eyes to her right. It, the flash, slammed into Heavy Lobster's side with the sound of crunching metal and a speeding gale, a gale that tore down settlements and seemed to rip the world to shreds—

Heavy Lobster tripped and slammed into the canyon wall, tipping over like an uneven scale. The blue glow followed it like a light trail as the impact brought chunks of dark, glasslike earth crumbling to the river below. Boulders crashed to the ground, clanging off the tank's shell, ricocheting off and splashing in the river. The sound… The sound rang in her ears, rang like a clanging bell that echoed off into—

Something landed next to her; the sound was soft, a feather against stone, or wood. Two paws patted gently into the chaos of vibrating metal and fallen stone, of inhuman, scratchy cries and splashes of water up the banks. The blue light was blinding, as if it had replaced the sun, had turned it a piercing shade of cobalt. Two wide eyes, wide and gleaming from the light reflecting around him, peered from a canine snout.

"Hello," Lucario said, his right hand glowing with something other than aura, something other than the cloud of azure energy floating restlessly around him, floating and fidgeting. He flicked a paw, and the paw flared with blue fire. "You need help, I assume."

Zelda stared. "Yeah."

And she looked some more. His paw, his right paw, was closed, hidden underneath a glove, and in the base of the glove lay a stone, small, gleaming in repressed quiet below the hole for his paw spike. It was clear, like crystal, like glass. And it gleamed and glowed, reflecting blue and violet colors.

There was a screech, and the canyon seemed to tremble. Rocks loosed themselves from the face, and dust rose to settle in the river, down to the riverbed as Heavy Lobster got to its feet. One foot smoking, the other prodding along in stomps, in padding footsteps that made the earth shake. Eyes wide, eyes for the jackal Pokémon in front of it.

A burst of flame seared forth, from the flame-proof insides of metal claws with burnt coatings outside.

Lucario raised his paw, the paw with the glove, and the flame seemed to dissolve where it flared as Lucario's own blue flame soared forward, a corona of sapphire energy spreading in a ring, a halo.

The blue aura continued to fly and slammed into Heavy Lobster, sinking through its front. It staggered back but rushed forward just as quickly, smoky exhaust flowing behind suddenly as it rammed forward.

The clouds settled, and Lucario had jumped to the right, feet still soft and gentle, feet almost unmoving. Heavy Lobster had shot by the canine, a blur of dark, pestilent metal scorching the air around it.

A movement, a movement from Lucario: he was vaulting off the canyon wall, all four paws a-gleam with energy, flinging his curling body at the tank, eyes smoking with a sky-blue frenzy. And he landed on Heavy Lobster's back.

His body seemed to light up, light up like a blue lantern in the night sky. Like a domino chain, the aura spread, into the air and into the tank below his feet.

Heavy Lobster screamed and bucked, sparks flying off the carapace. Lucario landed on his feet, the energy around him dying and shriveling.

"Hello, friends," someone called above Heavy Lobster suddenly, which lay on its side now, glinting in blue light.

All three of them looked up.

Zero.

"So I feel like Heavy Lobster should have a bit of… backup, yes? It should have happened a while ago. Hmm. Maybe I should have sent him along with reinforcements in the first place."

Zelda froze, Snake froze, and Lucario looked up. "Why, I haven't seen you in a long while," he said without glancing left, glancing right, losing his stern, stony face. "Hello, Zero."

"Yes, hello, Lucario," Zero murmured, making eye contact. "Well, have fun with reinforcements."

As he dissolved where he hovered, the air below him simmered, simmered with bubbling and frothing shadows, gathering in a black hole. The shadows settled, the air cooled and calmed, and a face, a body, appeared from the miasma, then forming pointed ears, a cap, a gray tunic, and the face—

The face was smooth again, smooth and pearly and still gray and black… It was no longer burnt—

Link looked at the three of them, looking above Kirby's prone body, prone body blackened and frozen under a shell of ash.

And more miasmas frothed, frothed into existence alongside the tank and next to Link, and Heavy Lobster was on its feet… The dark shapes frothed and created more shapes and people, people with swords, spears, shields and maces as they divided and split—

Lucario stepped forward, and the atmosphere around him felt charged, fired with chilling particles.

Link stepped back, once, twice, three times. His entourage, this plasmatic army followed in his steps.

He, his misty form, jumped backwards, high, higher than the seemingly impossibly high void, the interminable sky that was clouded black like midnight. He landed on Heavy Lobster's back, Master Sword withdrawn and shining a metallic purple along the blade.

What happened next—

The world seemed to fade in intensity, Heavy Lobster's claws glowed in a shade of red, and the world blacked out, faded again into nothing.

XxX

"Zelda." Lucario was saying, "Zelda."

She was on her back, every inch of her screaming and twitching and feeling her eyes grow cold and blurry. Kirby was lying next to her, still in ashes and charred skin. Snake…

Where was he?

"Zelda," Lucario said again. "Zelda, come on…"

Snake was there, lying down next to her, but at this point that wouldn't have been good for him at all, especially not after what he went through—

"Zelda!"

She bolted upright from her position lying down, and felt her left leg snapping, but it was probably already broken before and she was yelling herself raw, yelling so her throat felt like it would swell and explode—

And the red glow around her was deafening, but it was impossible for something she could see as color to make any sound at all… Color couldn't make sound because it wasn't a concrete idea, or object—

She gasped, sweat rolling down her face, her mask, cold, "Where are… Where are we…?"

Lucario lifted his head as he knelt nearby, looked about, black bangs beside his ears bobbing along. "I don't know." And the red sky stretched on over monoliths of stone like claws of furious blood etched into the earth. The dirt was packed and a thin brown, the rivers were crusted over.

"But this isn't Dark Star," he murmured. "That's all I know."

Zelda looked about. She felt her head throbbing. Pulsing, pounding, screaming and twisting. She moved her leg and felt her head. There was a bump there, a bump that seemed to be growing and popping up higher with each moment.

She rubbed her thigh, the thigh of her broken leg. "Yeah, okay."

Her cheeks were wet.

"You'll be fine," Lucario said simply.

She choked. "Yeah. Alright."

XxX


	10. Equinox

XxX

_Equinox_

Snake rose, jolting from his sleep. His eyes narrowed as he looked up, up into the sky that seared red. And there was a knife in his head, but that knife was imaginary, but it still hurt… It was a false knife and it still hurt and made his left eye twitch. He looked to his side, at Kirby still lying prone on the ground, eyes shut tight. He looked to the other side, at Zelda sitting, eyes focused down into her lap, one leg outstretched, swollen and pulsating. He looked and saw Lucario, glove throbbing madly in a fever as he felt the crystal stone in the glove.

And Snake said, "What happened?"

Zelda glanced away in a flash, interested in something far off. She answered, "Do you know where we are?" It wasn't much of an answer, damn it. "Can you tell us anything?"

"Can you tell me what happened first?" He squinted up abruptly a second time, eyes catching the scarlet light and meeting Lucario's face. "And can someone tell me why the hell Lucario is here…?"

"I followed you," Lucario replied without meeting Snake's gaze, narrowed, thin. "I followed you, and a part of me assumed you might need help."

Zelda felt her arms tense, her cheeks tighten. "Yes, fine. We were knocked out and sent here. That's all." She looked pointedly in Snake's direction. Her head wouldn't look up, wouldn't meet his eyes. Maybe… maybe his left eye was still red, even though he had drunk the potion earlier— "So we did need help."

Lucario shrugged. "Alright."

Snake grunted suddenly, saying under his breath, a breath thin and cold, "I've been here before… Zero…"

"Zero brought you here before?"

He looked about and wouldn't reply. His red eye, for it was still red, still tainted with a black iris and painted crimson, was twitching and pulsating wildly, lost in a mad frenzy. "Yeah," he said finally.

The wind seemed to howl more and more, filling in the holes from Snake's words, filling in whatever was left, whatever they couldn't say. Kirby was still out, Zelda's leg… Her leg was broken, and every moment she sat there was a moment the pain in her leg savored the flesh on her, savored and ate away at the bone.

"Do you have a leg brace?" Zelda's voice was quiet, and her throat… Her throat closed.

Lucario bent over, looked down upon Zelda's leg, torn and bent at an angle. Suddenly in his palm was another vial, a vial of something red and vibrant, melted rubies brewed within. "This is most definitely not a leg brace, but I assume this would help, yes?"

She grasped it with one hand, gloved. The glass hummed underneath, heating and fogging over where her fingers touched. The cork popped off, pulled with shaking metal fingers, and Zelda raised it to her lips. The liquid flowed, and her leg shook, tingling yet with no feeling, as if it were somewhere else entirely.

When it came back, when she could feel her leg, the pain was gone, the pain had withdrawn its teeth, its fangs. She stood up, and her leg trembled underneath, but it was stable and she could stand… Her muscles in her leg twitched and jerked… She could stand on it and that was fine—

Zelda rubbed her head, and her mask… She felt its cold surface, frozen and stiffed over. "We should get moving. Maybe we'll find something here, something useful…"

No one said anything; no one replied or could find the voice to reply… Lucario was quiet again, lips set… Snake was looking out into the horizon striated with crimson paint. And Kirby… Kirby was out, and he was still burnt on the outside, charred and blackened, smelling of burnt—

Zelda's fingers clenched tight around the rim of her mask, the cold metal numbing her flesh, eating her bones. "Or we can wait until Kirby gets up."

Lucario waltzed over, one more vial in hand. "I brought enough for three of us."

He didn't elaborate, instead going to tap Kirby's forehead, shaking him with calm paws.

"So," Zelda said carefully, treading on her tongue, her words. "Who's the third?"

Lucario kept looking down as Kirby coughed sharply, voice high and strained thin. He didn't say anything.

There was only a sipping noise, loud and slurping, as Kirby drank the potion. He flushed it down, draining the potion and leaving a red residue along the sides that stuck to the glass, flushed it down and handed it back to Lucario.

Suddenly Snake said, "Where'd that glove come from?"

Lucario, jolting back from ethereality as he popped the cork on, glanced quickly down at his hand. "I found the stone earlier. It reminds me more of a crystal than of a stone, though."

"Aren't those the same?"

"Maybe," said the Pokémon. "Maybe."

Kirby bounced onto his feet and swung his arms, swung his little stumps of pink arms back and forth. Then, he set forward, put one foot forward and walked into the violent ruby horizon, now striped with clear clouds that seemed to swirl like fog, like smoke, walked past statues and pillars, columns of stone and rock.

Lucario followed, seemingly quiet, stuck in silence. He didn't look back, even as Snake and Zelda looked at each other once, and set out to follow the others ahead.

XxX

Sometime later a mouth opened in the ground, sloping downward into a circular fissure. The sides, the edges that were chipped from something large… Maybe an explosion…?

Kirby looked down into the opened earth that yawned at him, screamed like a serpent with jaws wide, tongue extended. The bottom was dark, and Kirby backed up, stepping behind Snake, who walked forward slowly, hand straying to the knife at his side—

Lucario was still ahead of them, paws aglow.

Zelda slowed beside Snake and Kirby, clasping something in her hand. Kirby looked up; he met her eyes. Well, her eye. The other one, her left eye, was still under that mask, the mask that made her eyelid, her eyebrow invisible. Why did she have to wear it all the time? Maybe she would take it off eventually…

A blue light shone from the bottom of the hole, the hole that looked like a meteor had landed in the earth, suddenly illuminating the rock-littered slope, cut with brazen scars like rusted, terra-cotta blood.

The light seemed to reflect off something like glass at the bottom. Like a mirror, a gargantuan statue of glass.

Kirby slid down, put feet first and thoughts second, leaving Snake and Zelda up top, going to join Lucario… Lucario would know what to do with the big glass-mirror thing at the bottom of this abyss—

And when he got to the bottom, when the sliding stopped, he gazed up at the monument that stood, proud with a straight spine, in the center of the hole.

It was a crystal, but it wasn't a pillar… It was a mess, a jumble of spikes and flat walls of tainted glass, scintillating, charred quartz that was clearer than the clearest of warm rivers, except those bodies of water were dark… This was like placid lakes that shone in sheens of dark black and vibrant purple… The tips, those dark, thorny crystal tips pierced the red atmosphere, the strokes of rosy paint.

And in the crystal…

It was blurred, the form obscured like a watercolor with puddles of water sinking through the canvas… Kirby could relate! The first time he painted was a disaster… Too much water, too much pink paint for something that didn't need pink paint…

Lucario murmured, snapping Kirby back to the present, "Step back for a moment, Kirby."

He raised a paw as Kirby obeyed, the blue light, blue aura from him spiking suddenly, filling the air with a wholehearted hum that rose in volume with each moment, but hums don't have hearts…

The dark crystal exploded outward, a supernova of luminescent stone that expanded outward, pushing Lucario back in clouds of rising dust, slamming Kirby into the wall of the hole, ouch—

Something plopped into the dust, among clinking, clanking crystal that glinted, razor-edged obsidian that cut the air—

Lucario stepped forward, into the expanding yet settling dust, and Kirby followed. He felt his breath thin… If this was really—

He bent down, looked at the pink hair tied with a red ribbon… That was funny. He remembered the first time they had talked, the first time she told Kirby her name… Kirby saw the blue wings now torn and dusted over with dust and something red that dried like a crust…

And there was the diamond thing in her hand, shining with its own halo of light… But that light wasn't complete. It felt warming, like a portable, crystal fire, but something small was missing… He knew because… Ah. The crystal, that crystal that scattered into… How many pieces was it? Seventy five? That was a while ago…!

Lucario felt the fairy on the floor, briefly brushing aside the tinkling crystal, still shining, enveloped in a sunny appearance that looked like the stars in a clear night… He held a paw out to her chest… Maybe looking for a pulse…?

He closed his eyes, and she, the pink-haired fairy, gasped suddenly, voice high and airy, but now her high and airy voice was suddenly spiked; she kept gasping to breathe and her wide eyes widened even more, wide eyes cloaked in the blue light from Lucario, but Kirby was sure her eyes were already blue—

Her eyes fell on Kirby first, and she gasped again. She got up, floated into the air, spoke, spoke in a gentle voice that he remembered now… On one clear night streaked with falling shards… falling crystal shards like meteorites…

"Hello, Kirby," Ribbon the fairy said faintly. "Nice time for it."

Her eyes settled, obscured by stormy rain clouds, on the crystal below her hovering feet that sparkled, but didn't sparkle enough.

There was a sound like sliding feet, and Snake was there, knife out and exposed under the gleaming light from the diamond crystal. "Everyone alright?" Zelda followed behind, sword drawn, eyes… sparking.

Lucario nodded. Then he gestured at Ribbon as she floated at head height. "We found a fairy."

Ribbon, still quiet as she looked at the crystal below, said, "How do you do." She closed her eyes, and her wings seemed to waver where they hovered. "Name's Ribbon, and I'd like it if anyone had any answers."

The crystal's halo grew, and brought with it a low hum as they made introductions. Maybe in sympathy…?

But then… Then this, this place with the red sky… If Ribbon was here, if this crystal was here lying amongst pieces of darker minerals, of its prison, then…

"Ribbon, is this place… Is it called Ripple Star?" Lucario was so quiet as to be inaudible. "Is it? Because then…"

"That's not an answer," and Ribbon opened her eyes, clouded with… water, "but yes, this… this was Ripple Star." She looked up at the sky, red, red, so much red that was never there, that had been once filled with fairies, guided by the glow of a larger, completed diamond crystal. "But… but it's not anymore."

"Ripple Star?" This voice, it asked a question, but it didn't matter who owned that voice…

"Homeland of the fairies, home to the Crystal."

"The… Crystal?"

"Crystal, proper. That's what it's called, I assume. I have never heard an actual name for it." Lucario felt its surface, and the sapphire aura around him mixed with the Crystal's halo. They clashed, bright light with sky-blue energy, mingling together, dancing in light motes of color. "And the Crystal… The Crystal saved Ripple Star from ruin, after being assembled from seventy-five Crystal Shards, after… dispelling Dark Matter from the Fairy Queen—"

And Ribbon sniffled, rubbing her rounded, pearly face on a red lacy sleeve. "Yeah. And the Dark Matter formed Dark Star, where—"

"Where Zero-Two was defeated the first time," finished Snake, head low. "Alright."

Ribbon sniffed again, and this time buried her whole face in her dress. She was silent, but she couldn't have been silent, really… Kirby moved, but he didn't know… What to do… But she had a lot to say, didn't she? And she couldn't say it…? Kirby moved even closer yet…

"So," she choked after a while, after a while of being silent along the others… She said, "So, Zero is back? Zero is back, and Ripple Star…"

Lucario nodded. He could say nothing else.

Kirby looked up, at silent faces, at eyes and mouths set in stone that could not, that would not move, but stone isn't supposed to move in the first place… What to say, what to say… But what could he say?

Ribbon floated upwards on torn wings, up out of the hole and into the inflamed sky, cut and bloodied and clouded over, Crystal in hands as she flew, flew on opaque fairy wings—

"Wait," Snake called after her. "Wait, Ribbon."

The fairy froze midflight.

"If that Crystal defeated Zero the first time, we could use it to defeat him again. Right?"

She said, "But the Crystal's not complete. It's missing a few pieces, and I don't know where they went… I don't know where to start, and if they were here… If they were here then I hope they're still here. But… I don't know."

And Ribbon kept flying, flying out and up.

The others followed silently, Zelda still moving her fleshy fingers over something.

Kirby regarded her, regarded the moving hand. Something glinted inside.

He shrugged to himself, swung his arms, and climbed out of the hole, climbed out alongside the others.

XxX

They trudged on, on through the ruins of Ripple Star, Ribbon floating ahead. Behind her were Lucario and Zelda, with Snake and Kirby hanging back, looking around and taking in the environment.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, out of the blue, Zelda said, "Stop, Ribbon. Come here for a moment."

Ribbon floated over, hair plastered over her soaked face, over her crunched, moist eyes. "Yes?"

Zelda held something out, and Ribbon's eyes widened. She mouthed something, and Zelda mouthed something back. The fairy nodded, hair swinging, ribbon atop her head bouncing. Then she held the Crystal out, and the thing in Zelda's hand twitched. Her fingers twitched in time, in rhythm.

The Crystal thrummed as Zelda's hand opened, palm exposed. The thrumming… It continued for a minute, then fell silent. The music turned off, and the Crystal returned to its silent, warm, fireplace glow. Was that glow, perhaps, a bit brighter than before, like a flashlight with its batteries replaced?

Ribbon stared at the Crystal in her hands, glowing a bit more, but still, she looked… Disappointed? As if looking down upon a disobedient child, eyes furrowed, lips set in a tight line.

Zelda murmured something, and Ribbon shrugged. She floated forward, suspended on a warm draft, and the group continued.

Snake gazed at the back of Zelda's head. Now, what the hell was that about…? He would have said that, would have opened his mouth to speak, but he said nothing. And what would his answer be? A scathing retort? A low-toned answer, filled with melancholy? Well, he wouldn't know ever, seeing as he wouldn't ask…

Kirby stumbled over a fallen pillar, once draped in banners, once coated in fine paint that would have reflected the colors of the afternoon sun, that perhaps would have supported the roof of a fairy building, built with finesse in mind…

The puffball, the marshmallow recovered and kept walking. The building in finery faded from Snake's mind.

There. A rumble, low in the distance.

Lucario watched the horizon line, canine eyes narrowed into red-irised spotlights. "Careful. We'll need to be careful. Ruin as it may be, Ripple Star holds a threat."

Ribbon choked and muttered something. No one heard what she said.

They all walked a few more steps before something… something darkened in a cloud of blackened particles, a miasma fluttered to life before them.

That rumble sounded again, until it sounded closer… It sounded like a factory, a drill moving closer and rumbling, rumbling and whirring increasing in volume.

The miasma sizzled, sizzled like it was smoking and boiling, and something materialized out of it, the rumbling, smoking miasma… The thing wore flowing robes of navy blue, blue with gray, the necklace upon its pauldrons and red scarf shining with yellow beads and a singular sapphire cat's-eye stone. Hair, hair like tendrils of shadow rose from its head, armored around a singular green eye.

The space around it was like the air in a vacuum, the light around a black hole. Now, around it, the red sky was warped, twisted through arcs of energy.

And this thing, this being, drew a sword, a sword with a luminescent venom blade, a purple blade that beckoned of poison, and vats of angry acid, as yet more miasmas appeared, like… like with Heavy Lobster, when it and Link summoned reinforcements…

The thing spoke through a mouth they could not see, spoke in a grumbling, wispy way. "The ruins of Ripple Star welcome you. Zero sends his regards," he said, hair a mane of darkness. "I am the Dark Matter Swordsman, and you, Solid Snake, should know."

He pointed his sword, and suddenly, abruptly Snake was on the ground, on his hands and knees as every nerve in him lit on fire, as his eyes twitched and as his forehead leaked sweat, as his insides twisted inside out and as his mouth howled and as his throat went sore, his hands ached and his knees scraped the earth—

Snake spat on the ground, spat at Dark Matter's feet, but Dark Matter didn't have feet; he was hovering like Ribbon but without wings—

"That should have felt familiar. You should know, know what that pain feels like. The pain of an inversion hurts, yes? The pain is never-ending, as in Lord Zero's case. And his pain, his eternal sorrow, anger, bitterness, shame, is felt through me. The world will know soon."

Dark Matter pointed his sword again as Snake screamed on his knees, as his head seemed to explode and as his chest seemed to fracture like glass.

And Dark Matter said, as soldiers with vaporous swords and shields and spears made of darkness surrounded them, weapons raised, "But you first, travelers. Again, Zero sends his regards."

Zelda unsheathed her sword, Lucario helped a choking, gasping Snake onto his feet, and Kirby withdrew his blade from its locker and Ribbon grasped her Crystal, facing the soldiers of shadow, facing Dark Matter as he narrowed his eye and swung his sword about.

"Kill them," Dark Matter said, and the soldiers attacked.

XxX


	11. Solstice

XxX

_Solstice_

Dark Matter immediately went for Lucario, sword extended in a black miasma. Aura burst from Lucario's paws as he dodged, teeth bared in a thin snarl, eyes narrowed into slits. The swordsman swung up, then to the side, and Lucario dodged again. He stepped back, with the blue energy from his palms suddenly flaring in arcs and bursts.

A soldier charged at Ribbon, who was hovering midair, her Crystal grasped tightly. The soldier's mace crashed into the ground, crashed like a meteor into the rusted earth. Ribbon swerved with a yelp and raised the Crystal above her head. The stone illuminated the ground below, the expressionless, darkened face of the soldier that attacked her, lips tight, eyes shining red, like headlights.

Zelda ducked under a spearman's swing, howling, "Protect Ribbon!"

The soldier attacking Zelda flung his head in Ribbon's direction, seeing her wide face, lifted eyebrows, panicked mouth. He turned his spear around and rushed forward at the fairy, stabbing at the princess of Hyrule as she followed his movements. Then Zelda, dodging and twirling, was behind him; moments later her sword was in his back. As he thrashed around, the entry point smoking, his limbs dissolving, Zelda withdrew her sword. He fell without a sound and melted into ashes: black, pale gray, then nothing. The spear clattered down.

Snake found three soldiers in front of him. The first's one sword came at his face. He felt his left eye twitch, and his knife arm raised, raised in response with the dagger glinting. Hilts locked together, and Snake's arm jolted in the socket, snapping and creaking. He twisted the sword out of the soldier's hand and thrust forward, stabbing through his upper abdomen. Pushing the first phantom soldier aside as he doubled over, Snake slammed his elbow into the second swordsman's face, splitting skin, cracking the shadowy nose underneath. That one staggered back with a gloved hand over his vaporous nostrils, nose bleeding ink, red eyes like serpent eyes. And the third one… The third one lunged, spear extended, and Snake moved to the side. Snake sliced down with his dagger, and the spearhead clanked down, useless. The soldier's mouth opened in a thin hiss.

Hissing some more, the third soldier dropped the spear shaft, dodged a punch from Snake, and countered with a punch of his own. Snake caught the fist and flinched: the hand was cold, glacial, icy like the depths of the ocean. He twisted his own arm as hard as he could, palm shaking from the temperature… He couldn't feel his fingers, shit, but he could feel things snapping under them… And then the soldier was on the floor, grasping his limb and curled in on himself, a resting caterpillar in pain and shaking.

Snake stabbed down, and the shaking stopped.

Then there was an arm wrapped around his neck, and it was freezing, and he couldn't breathe… Something in his throat was tightening, like there was a noose but there was no noose; it was just an arm. His breath froze in his mouth as a point, a sharp razor was digging into his back… He felt something pierce the back of his thermal suit—

Snake slammed an elbow back, and the soldier… the second soldier with the ruined nose had bent over, clutching his stomach, his own purple dagger by his foot… Snake slashed over his face, once, twice, then leapt to the side as the soldier charged forward, the spike on his helm suddenly sharp and in focus. And Snake got behind, had the soldier's arms behind his armored back, and slit his throat. The knife met skin, and the warrior instantly dissolved, thawed out and broke into an ashen silhouette. He was on his knees, and then he was gone.

Dust around his feet, Snake stepped back, his chest heaving. He whirled around, spun with eyes alert and clear, yet outlined in sweat—

And Kirby was standing over Zelda, who had an arm wrapped around her waist, and her waist was sticky and dark in the damp, bleached light that glowed red, and so was the arm… Lucario and Ribbon stood next to one another, Lucario's glove and Ribbon's Crystal humming in sync and keeping the soldiers at bay in a wide circle that surrounded a globe of light, Dark Matter at the helm…

Dark Matter hovered closer, sword held in a wispy hand of darkness. "Stand down. I have new orders now, and you would do to let me follow them."

Then he turned and said with that nonexistent mouth, sword pointing directly at Snake's face, at he who was out of the circle, the globe of light, "He wants this one alive."

Snake's muscles tightened, and he stood on his feet, ready to lunge, to dance to the side and dodge the onslaught of enemies that would soon come, and he would have to be ready; on his toes, like Master Miller once told him a while ago—

But there was a noise behind him, a noise like a stomping tank that slammed into his back and had him pinned down to the floor… His chest moaned and something within cracked and shattered… His mouth let out a cry, a cry that was choked by the weight atop his back, the weight that was slowly crushing him—

Worn, cold claws wrapped around the back of his head, tore his scalp underneath his hair, and these claws smashed his face into the dirt; he tasted copper and other metal and something burnt… Snake turned his cheek so his nose wouldn't be crushed but that wasn't much help, damn it, damn it—

He heard Zelda choke… God, don't you dare break down now—

And then the claws brought his head up and down onto the floor again, and there was a ringing in his ears, and his eardrums seemed to… pop, maybe…? His head was dull and something was messed up, maybe his brain was fried so he really couldn't tell what had happened to his ears—

"Now, Bowser," a voice drowned underwater said, but that was stupid because they weren't underwater, but that was how the voice sounded… "Don't be too rough. Just follow directions."

This… This was Bowser…? So then he must have been under an inversion as well—

There was a low growling grunt from the person above him, the person who now had Snake's arms behind his back, and that wasn't fun, shit… Shit—

Arms snapping, Snake felt his head lifted up, and the force behind the pull, shit, that didn't bode well—

"Bowser!"

The pressure lifted, and Snake lowered his head, blood in his mouth.

Then, a small voice. "Why don't you just take him now and be done with it? Why… Why make us watch…?"

"Dear Ribbon… Don't you know? Pain is Zero's lifeblood, his draught of vigor! He takes energy from the pain of others, and I'm very sure he would have felt all this by now. No, not just physical pain, but the pain of having to watch someone _else _suffer, now that would be just as bad." And here it wasn't hard to imagine Dark Matter grinning, even though he didn't have a mouth to grin with. "He's crafty, Zero. Feeling your shame at not putting up a good enough fight, your helplessness… He knows how painful that is for you, so he knows how much more powerful that will make him… So here I wait."

Ribbon's reply was quiet, and Snake could barely hear it; his ears were still ringing after having been… popped… "I thought you wanted to kill us all."

"It would be better for Zero if we didn't, actually. After all, the more power, the better."

Dark Matter waved his sword, and something would have happened, something that maybe wouldn't have been good, but it never happened—

Ribbon glowed, Crystal glowing with her, and the glow seemed to take up everything, swallow everything in a mouth that gleamed white… The glow spread outwards, buzzing wildly, reverberating in a cavernous, yawning sound and Snake could feel his eyes burning, could feel Bowser stumbling, the Koopa King's weight lifting from his back… But he couldn't move… Why, why couldn't he… move…?

The glow was fading, and someone was pulling Snake up onto his feet. White was replaced by red, a red sky that felt less red and blacker now… So, was it night?

And the person who helped him to his feet pulled him back to the others… Snake could feel his leg groaning as he limped along, his chest heaving and wanting to throw up something that wasn't even there. Why was his leg groaning? Zelda was the one who had broken her leg earlier.

The soldiers and Dark Matter were just… formless forms now, hovering in purple and black clouds that would not take shape, would not form men or demons… That was fine; as long as they weren't trying to kill Snake and the others—

And then one of them, one of those formless miasmas seemed to hiss, a tea kettle left unattended, and seemed to slowly form… form a robed figure… Already he could see one green eye that shone harshly, like winter ice—

And they were running, running from the ghostly, half-shaped voice of Dark Matter screaming, "Follow them!", away from his reforming henchmen, away from a stunned Bowser writhing on the floor—

They ran, kept running as Zelda grasped her side, visible face pale, robes clearly red. Snake's back was screaming, screaming, and he couldn't feel his head… His ears… Were they bleeding?

He was dragging behind, why, why, why the hell… He should have been fast enough to keep up—

His head exploded, exploded like when Dark Matter had pointed at him the first time, and he was on the floor, trembling as his left eye, the one he had looked at in that mirror long ago, the eye that was red, felt like it was burning a hole in him, jack-hammering into his skull, whirring away at his bones and his flesh, and the whip mark Zero had given him before, so long ago, suddenly felt like an iron poker driving its way through as he screamed, God damn it, _stop screaming, it doesn't hurt, you can't let it hurt_—

And the arrow wound in his shoulder from long ago hurt now, and maybe it had opened up, he could feel warmth down his back, his cold, shaking, numb back that tingled like it had fallen asleep. But if it had fallen asleep maybe it wouldn't have hurt as much, God, God, holy shit—

Lucario roared, "Get up!"

And Snake wanted to roar back, to scream, to give up—

Somewhere someone was crying… Maybe it was Ribbon—

There was a hand on his shoulder, a clammy hand that had no strength behind it… So that was Zelda, and Zelda was pulling Snake up as he felt his head clear, and his eye stop hurting—

"We have to keep going," she murmured in his ear. "We have to keep going, and Lucario broke his last health potion, but you still have the blue one, the potion that would help—", and here Zelda cut off and breathed in, out, in, out… She let go of his arm and staggered forward, back into a run—

Snake followed, and they ran through Ripple Star, all breathing loud…

The potion… He hadn't told anyone, told that he had broken the vial, or that after he had woken up in Ripple Star the potion was gone, with no sign, no sign that it had ever existed, and it was too late now, and if someone had stolen it he couldn't find it; there was no time to even bother—

So he kept running, sprinting and pushing his legs to keep up…

An eternity passed, and it felt like forever; he was numb all over and his head felt overinflated, like someone had stuffed it with helium, inflated it with cotton… Maybe the other way around… Maybe that would have made more sense, been more logical—

Somewhere Lucario stopped them. He beckoned them underneath an overhang next to the side of a low hill, taking in the raw, melted earth, the barren landscape like a desert that wasn't originally a desert when it started out as a planet—

"We… we lost them," the Pokémon was saying. "I can't sense them nearby… But… why did they leave…?"

Snake collapsed underneath the overhanging lip of earthen stone, coughing and shaking badly, like he had drunk too much caffeine but this was worse, stomach pulsing and heaving, saliva working its way up his suffocating throat and mixing with blood and spattering the ground, with bile like lemon juice. _It didn't matter, it didn't matter… Why they left… Doesn't matter… God…_

Ribbon followed behind him into the shelter, and almost instantly said, "The stone in your glove, Lucario… It's a Crystal Shard and you need to give it to me… I felt a complete energy when we were next to each other, please…"

If Lucario looked, saw Ribbon crying freely, he didn't add anything other than, "I can't. I alchemized it into the glove and now I can't get it out—"

"That's a lie," howled Ribbon, "and if you don't want Snake to go through that again then you'd give the Shard to me…!"

Suddenly Lucario glared at Ribbon, and there was nothing there, nothing but slitted eyes, snarling teeth, and a raised voice, raised hackles as he said, "Have you thought that maybe this Shard isn't even a Shard? Maybe it's another magic stone that _isn't… a Crystal…?" _

He shook his gloved paw, the… "crystal" clinking with the trembling, shuddering movements he made. "But perhaps you wouldn't know, eh? Perhaps, maybe, you're just masquerading as someone who knows, who knows about Ripple Star, who knows about all the things that the real Ribbon would know…?"

Ribbon backpedaled away from the overhang, nearly running into a sallow-faced Zelda, a wide-eyed Kirby. She hid behind the princess, hid with shaking arms hugging the Crystal. Zelda then stepped forward to face Lucario, back straight.

"Are you saying this isn't the real Ribbon?" Zelda looked Lucario in his canine eyes, his darkened, scrunched nose. "Are you saying you didn't see Ribbon crying, crying her heart out? And," she stalked closer, metal gauntlet twisted tight, "are you saying you didn't see her crying for Snake as he lay, screaming on the ground…?"

"Anyone can fake tears and act sorrowful!"

"Didn't you see, Lucario?" Zelda raised her voice to be heard over the white noise of Ripple Star. "Didn't you see, or are you too blind to see?"

Lucario looked away and blinked, backed up and leaned against the inside of the crevice. "Yes, fine."

He wouldn't say anything else.

Zelda glanced down at Snake, plopped down next to him. "Do you have your potion?"

"I lost it." There was a knot in Snake's stomach that wouldn't undo.

Her face remained quiet, set in stone.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ribbon and Kirby sneak underneath the earthen, natural awning, that awning like a stone beak that hid them from the night sky above and clouded that moon they couldn't see and it didn't matter that they couldn't see it…

He threw his head over to Zelda at his side. "You feeling better?"

Zelda gazed down at her waist, still red and crusted over thickly, like a shell. "Yes," she replied. "I spent some energy healing it, and I nearly ran out of the rest…" She put her one visible eye in her flesh-and-blood hand. "But I still have some left. It… won't help anyone, though… I'll have to recharge and, and…"

Her hand fell to her side, next to her curled up legs. She let her head loll, let her neck loosen and her eyes close.

And she was asleep in the next moment.

Everything was blurry, and his ears still rang, but Snake could hear a low, smooth growling noise; it was low but it was small, shallow, breathed by a young, high voice… Either Ribbon or Kirby was snoring, or maybe they were snoring at the same time, in tandem. They were both kids; they'd sound the same, or very close to.

"Snake."

The mercenary looked over at where the voice sounded.

"You didn't have to volunteer for this," said Lucario. "Maybe it would have been better if you hadn't come with us. That shelter of mine… I would've let you stay in it. Why bother?"

"Dunno," Snake replied, mouth set. "But there isn't much else to do here."

"You're supposed to be dead in your home world, not traveling abroad. You didn't ever have to deal with this."

He merely shrugged in reply. Even that made his shoulders twinge, his spine crackle with snapped nerves. "Yeah. I know."

The silence began to thicken, until it was stifling, a swallowing fog that cloaked the words, the voices that would have said something to break the ice… It swirled, whisked through the cracks and crevasses with silent sound…

"Why does Zero want you alive?"

Snake snorted. "I don't wanna know."

More silence.

"Snake," he heard Lucario say abruptly, "do you trust any of us?"

Suddenly he was watching a blond man wearing a trench coat, taunting, speaking and cursing, regarding Snake with an upturned nose, sharp, haughty chin… Then someone was on the ground, in the snow, blood pooling around her body as someone nearby cried and would not stop… And the question. The question that came next. Well, questions.

_What was she fighting for? What am I fighting for?_

The final question… He remembered it, and it felt sharper, in focus than the others. Otacon was there in that howling snowfield, glasses misted and wet.

_What are you fighting for?_

Snake breathed deep through his nose, swelling his chest, narrowing his vision into a tunnel. He was pulled back to the present, the present with Zelda sleeping next to him and with Kirby and Ribbon curled somewhere in the cold, bitter darkness of night; with Lucario slumped against the crevice's wall, perhaps with an expression that didn't exist on his face.

What was Snake fighting for…? He'd had a long time, a long time to think that through… The Big Shell, the Middle East… Maybe… All that time, did he trust people enough…? Was that it? Was that what he was… fighting for?

And did he trust them, trust Lucario, Zelda, Kirby and Ribbon?

"Yeah," he said after a moment. "I do."

He heard Lucario sigh. That sigh died off, until he sighed again, and again… He was snoring, and so he was asleep, obviously…

Snake stayed up for a while after. It was only when Zelda, one viewable eye outlined with dark, ragged circles and baggy flesh, woke up and offered to take watch did Snake close his eyes and allow himself to drift off.

Even then, sleep was a long time coming.

XxX

Rain lashed the ground, tapping the stones and fallen pillars, beating a rhythm against the dried earth, the hollow, empty river beds. The clouds hid the early morning, that bright red light shining with a hollow, clean shimmer. Cold air greeted the bleached sunrise, its hands a dripping downpour that poured in a waterfall and filled the chasms in the slack-jawed earth.

Ribbon was the first up, fluttering her wings and yawning at the wide gray expanse, that colorless, shapeless field of mud.

Someone said behind her, "Does it usually rain here?" The voice was so quiet as to be a light wisp on the wind.

"No," she muttered. "Usually it's quite sunny on Ripple Star."

"Huh."

Ribbon whirled around. Snake was watching her, arm slung over his bent leg propped up, left eye red and ragged, cut and underscored with a fleshy canyon beneath. His other eye didn't look too good, either, all black and wrinkled…

Ribbon said, lips numb, "Do you usually get up this early?"

He regarded her, narrow, outlined eyes unblinking. "What time is it?"

The fairy laughed just once. "I don't know."

Snake scratched the stubble on his chin. "Huh," he said again.

It took her a moment to realize that Lucario was already up, cross-legged on the ground. He was mumbling, growling under his voice. The words he spoke were nonsense, intangible gibberish spoken in a different language, maybe.

Ribbon continued to stare out at the rain, hovering in place. "Maybe it'd be better if it stayed this way, if I could never tell time here. I'd get too sad too quickly." She looked down at her hands that didn't have fingers, kind of like Kirby's hands. "But if I could tell time then at least I'd have something to do."

Lightning forked overhead at these words, crackling above the ground, striking something far off in the distance… A ruin, maybe, of an old fairy building…

She felt something in her throat clog up. Where was the Fairy Queen now…? Resting? Taking a break, a nap? Relaxing and letting the daylight filter through the windows of the main hall of the castle and onto her paintings and tapestries…?

She wiped an arm across her face.

More lightning forked across the blanket of clouds, slicing the raindrops and the shadows of half-pillars and monuments that would have pierced the sun if there was a sun. All the while the rain pounded, pounded down and down in a deluge of never-ending water.

Then Zelda was next to her, sitting with her face against the wind. "Nice morning."

"Don't you mean, 'good morning'…?"

She yawned, looked about at the sky hammering and hammering at the ground that would not give. "I suppose."

Suddenly Zelda turned to Lucario. "Can you sense anyone nearby?" Her voice had a light tone to it, an airy tone that would have been spoken on a summer's day with nothing busy, nothing rushed. But it felt too light, too calm to be real.

Lucario grunted, "I would have already told you if I had." His eyes looked flat, a distant, windless sea. "There's no one out there. No one… hostile."

"So there is someone out there?" Zelda asked, tapping her mask.

Lucario wouldn't reply.

She turned away, back to the rainstorm howling and raging around them, in front of them. Still, the water that fell in sheets, in drops and drops that were too numerous to count, spiked with white lightning every few moments, kept pouring from an open dam above their heads. The sound of sprinkling, tapping droplets echoed in that wide space under the eagle-headed overhang.

The rain hurtled down, and Ribbon said, "So what's the plan?"

Lucario shook his head with his bangs bobbling, Snake slowly turned to Ribbon and cocked an eyebrow, and Zelda… Zelda looked down at the ground, at her boots now scratched white and smudged black and dark red, like velvet. Kirby was still asleep, snoring in his little corner.

Then the Pokémon, eyes low, murmured, "If we can somehow get to Dark Star—"

"Dark Star…?" Ribbon asked, voice cracking and raising half an octave.

"— then we're going after Zero-Two… I know the general location of his palace, and if Dark Matter and the others who have been inverted don't kill us first, then…"

Ribbon's breathing grew faster and faster, rolling downhill like as an out-of-control snowball would on a winter day in the hills with nothing in sight to stop it… Hadn't she seen that once, on Shiver Star? Not on Ripple Star, though; it never snowed on Ripple Star…

"We can't," she said, her voice peaked. "There's no way… With Dark Matter and… and Zero, how— how do you… I mean, erm, how can we… It… That seems impossible…"

"You think we don't know that...?" Snake spoke.

Ribbon looked at their faces, and fell silent.

"But they don't want to kill us. Yet." And Snake's face reflected the dark shadows, stood starkly in the rain's foggy light that outlined his cheekbones, the scratches and scars in his skin all around. "Keeping us around for the hell of it, I guess."

The lightning kept flashing and flashing. And then—

"Did you see that?" Ribbon was gesturing out towards a dark mass, a figure in ink that had been lit briefly by the seventh flash.

They scanned the horizon, and Zelda nodded as the bolts streaked down in forking paths. "Yes. It looks… like a person."

"He's not hostile," Lucario replied, in anticipation of a glare, a primal snarl at his… inadequacies. "More of a neutral party than anything else…"

"So he's not going to kill us…?"

"We may never know," laughed Lucario in a sharpish grunt at Snake's question. "At least, not until he tries."

It was Zelda who asked, "Does he look familiar?"

In the next moment of blinding light, they all stared closer. The shoulders were thick, the head stocky, the hands large like gloves.

"Isn't that Ganondorf?"

Zelda squinted. "It seems to be. He's not coming any closer, either."

"Perhaps he's waiting for the… opportune moment to strike." Lucario spoke out. "I do believe he was inverted before, but there's nothing hostile in his aura. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe he is calling for reinforcements, though... Or maybe he's preparing a dark spell of a sort—"

"No, he's not." Snake said, brows creased as he watched Ganondorf on the horizon. He was making a movement with his arm, bringing it up then down, forward then back. "He wants us to follow him."

XxX


	12. Meridian

XxX

_Meridian_

When they caught up with Ganondorf, the rain had lessened to the slight patter of water that sank into the wet, frothing mud and caught there in bubbling rivulets running like minuscule brooks, streams. The warlock stood amongst those streams, head high, hands low at his sides. He closed his eyes and opened them, slowly, slowly… His eyes were twitching, switching between their normal color, and red… Red, that damned color red…

"Ganondorf," Zelda muttered, her eye focused keenly down on her boot. "We're here, as you can tell. Show us what you need to."

Ganondorf said nothing, only turned to the right and began to walk away, stomp and flutter his cape behind him. He didn't look at anyone else as his legs moved forward.

"I don't trust this, or him." Lucario felt his glove, the crystal humming. Well, if it was a "Crystal", or something like that. "Wasn't he on Dark Matter's attack team? Wasn't he trying to kill us?"

Now Zelda tightened her fist; Snake could hear it, hear the stretching of fabric and the grating of metal filed with nicks and dents. "You said he wasn't hostile." She had a hushed whisper on her tongue, low and rasping. "You couldn't sense any opposing aura or anything, anyone hostile. And Ganondorf wasn't there with Dark Matter."

"I expressed doubts," replied Lucario, snarling with blue aura twisting around his gloved paw in great vines and tendrils, whirling around like curls of sapphire smoke. "I expressed my doubts, and we did not heed them. But, if my doubts do not amount to anything, then… Then we don't need to listen to them." He followed Ganondorf and didn't look back or forward, at Zelda or Ganondorf's back, keeping his head low.

Zelda cursed, and Ribbon's eyes flew wide as fire leapt from the princess's fingers. The fairy opened her mouth wide too, but Zelda was already pounding her feet into the earth as she followed Lucario. Ribbon closed her mouth and went after her, Kirby by her side in his bumbling, stumbling gait.

Snake breathed deep, and his left eye seemed to convulse in time with his exhale. His skin seemed to itch constantly now, like he was covered in ants, but if he was covered in ants then things would hurt a hell of a lot more. Besides, that was stupid. Here there was only Zero, only Dark Matter, only destroyed buildings and red skies, red eyes—

He shook his head, his left shoulder shaking with him, chilled blood rippling through his arm, and set out after the others.

When he caught up with them, he heard Ganondorf mutter, "I won't be the one to blame should this go wrong. Turn back now, if you wish. But, whatever the choice, I wish not to harm you."

Lucario froze, and the aura around him grew warm, like stifling fumes from boiling lava, steaming water. "So are you inverted…?" The question was framed in a fragile rasp from teeth screwed too tight.

"You can't completely destroy an inversion."

"The inversion… Is it something more like a parasite, or a virus?"

Ganondorf looked back for the briefest of moments. "Perhaps, both. But one could contain it for a while, if one possessed enough… willpower."

He took another moment to look at Snake. Then Ribbon glanced back in the same direction, and Zelda did as well. Lucario kept his gaze focused on the ground and would not move it away. Kirby kept walking and didn't turn back either, his ears seemingly closed tight. Well, if he even had ears.

They kept going, sloshing across the muddied grounds. Here and there, scattered reeds poked above the earth that ate at their feet, that would suck them down and spit them out, suck them down and spit, again and again… The sound of squelching dirt, soaked through, was the only thing to be heard.

Snake's skin jerked underneath his suit, and something in his neck pulsed… The stretched skin covering it popped up, and everything dropped in temperature. Icicles were piercing his skin, and it hurt; it felt… familiar, like when Dark Matter had pointed at him.

Did that have anything to do with this… this cold? This twitching of skin?

The ground faded from his view… His foot dragged against something buried, and the cold was in his foot, but this coldness was wet, with consistency like mucus, or slime. His boot had ripped, torn, and he wrenched it out along with what tore it, had so violently scratched the material—

The… object felt sharp in his hand, cold to the touch… Everything here was so damn cold, anyway… But this thing was going to tear his glove; the serrated edge gleamed in the light rain, but most of it was covered with dirt, flecks of brown and red.

Snake rubbed his thumb along the smooth side, and in the glass he saw his own face. The stubble there was coated with blood, was dyed this crimson color… There were scratches, bruises in every color he could imagine… Purple, blue, yellow… And red, damnit. His left eye was red, and he could see half of his face turn into a snarl, an upturned growl. The skin around that red eye was gray, just a bit, but he could see it well enough; gray mixed with that sharpish white-tan of his cheeks, his eyebrow—

He dropped the shard of glass, of that mirror, and kept walking.

The further they walked, the more distance the reeds seemed to cover. They dotted the earth, cut through the muck with their blades of green and sopping edges carrying droplets until they were heavy, leaden enough to fall. The ground was brown and streaked with red and gray limestone pillars and columns with no heart, no life. But there was green, and that…

That made up for it. Partly.

Kirby once had to tramp around a statue on its side, mud already clinging to his large feet. Did he even have to wear any shoes? Were those his shoes, or were those considered his bare feet? Huh…

Snake stepped over the statue, a faint breeze right next to him. Was that Ribbon?

"Are you doing fine?" Ribbon had asked that… It sounded enough like her, with her high voice, quiet wispy inflection. "Do you need to rest? I can tell the others."

He looked at her without blinking, and she backed away. "I'm fine, thanks."

She didn't say anything after that.

Snake had to step over another toppled statue… They were all over now, lying amongst crushed reeds no longer green and reminiscent of lively forests, some of their colorless heads without ears or pieces of hair… Many had wings like Ribbon's, and some were broken, the tips missing, yet others were gone from the bases. The absence of the wings left gaping holes in the stone backs, filled to the edges with rainwater.

"Where are we going?" Ribbon's voice came out small, nearly something like a whisper. "No one's bothered to say anything about it yet…" She froze in place, wings thrumming like those of a hummingbird's: blurring and flapping, the blue color merging into one curving slashing movement. "This area looks too familiar."

Lucario snorted. "That's because you live here. Used to live here, anyway."

Ribbon ruffled her wings, shook her hair like a mane. She looked over at Lucario and looked away instantly.

"Perhaps I would leave that for when you see it. When you get there you'll know." Ganondorf flexed his hand and suddenly twitched. He stopped where he stood, quaking as if standing atop an earth shuddering with tremors, like an earthquake. The corners of his mouth turned and twisted in every way, every direction. His brows rose then fell, rose then fell, and his eyes underneath…

His eyes were slowly turning red… The irises were slowly turning black, the pupils turning stark white.

Kirby took five steps back, right alongside Zelda. Lucario readied his gloved paw, already bursting with a cerulean pulse rising like hot vapor. Snake bounced on his feet, readying his legs, clenching his fists in front of him.

And Ribbon darted forward in a swirl of air that raised bumps in Snake's skin, her Crystal held in front of her, eyes narrowed. She rammed into Ganondorf with a crunch, and as Ganondorf staggered back with his spine curled over in an arc, the green of his face fading to a sun-bleached gray, the Crystal began to glow and hum. It stood opposed to the armor, gleaming, pulsating light against metal like black stone.

Ribbon flew back as Ganondorf reeled, still with back bent, still with those red eyes. But those eyes… They weren't as red now, and the color at the edges was returning to its normal white, with the irises waning to a dim citrine, a blanched yellow.

He eyed Ribbon in silence and toppled forward onto his stomach. From his body echoed a low moan.

Lucario extended his paw at the thick-shouldered figure lying in the mud, glove sparking with blue flames as the jackal said, "Maybe those doubts I expressed had a measure of truth to them… This, this sense of… false security..."

Zelda walked forward, one slow boot descending, then another. She bent double and pulled Ganondorf up. Lucario backed up, stepping on something hard. He flinched and looked down, yanking his foot off as he stooped.

It was another piece of glass, larger than the shard Snake had seen, covered up with clumps of torn grasses and soaked dirt globs like melting mountains, falling trees. As Zelda asked Ganondorf questions, perhaps expressing concerns or giving condolences, Lucario reached down and wiped the mud off the surface.

The color that met his searchlight eyes was a color like the evening sun: orange like fire roaring from wood, rearing at shadows and chasing them away… It was an orange shone through with transparent light, maybe like the afternoon glare on a hazy day, filtering through and turning white-yellow rays to flares of ginger radiance…

Ribbon looked down at the buried stained glass sheet, something in her face that would not move, would not curve the mouth or water the eyes… Her face was like stone.

Kirby peered up, scanned Ribbon's face for something. He didn't find it, then; he looked away and tapped his feet, rubbed the tops of them and dislodged patches of crusted dirt.

They heard Zelda say to Ganondorf, "We'll find out."

He nodded and let go of Zelda to stand on his own feet. Hobbling forward, Ganondorf kept going, fixing his eyes on his path ahead. Lucario straightened and walked further on, towards the horizon. The rest followed.

Statues now littered the ground. They reclined in the shadows of twisted trees, black and veined with purple syrup down the trunks. Their stone surfaces were blanketed in gray leaves, shells of earthen clay. Heads turned to the sky, backs and chiseled shoulders dug under mounds of mud, and hands and wings extended, outstretched to touch the heavens above.

Then a wall lay before their path, edges rigid and scratched. The paint covering had chipped; the stones pasted together with ragged cement wobbled where they sat in their slack cradles and threatened to fall out. Holes gaped out at them, and piles of bricks lay motionless at the base of the wall, in pieces and wholes.

More walls loomed before them, past this single, lonely barrier, forming shapes and waves that reared at the dusky morning sky, uneven shadows draped over the ground, over piles of spent blocks and silenced statues, with faces buried deep in mud. These wavy walls, curling fences of stone folded in on themselves, like the sides of boxes. But these boxes didn't have tops, caps, and the insides yawned up at the grayscale clouds lurking above… Shadows lengthened as the clouds stretched and strained, drifting further upon the back of the wind.

Ribbon hovered forward and swung her head to the side, taking in those walls with serrated rims, toothed and ruined with chasms within the brick barriers.

She murmured, "This… This… Is this the castle?"

Ganondorf replied, "It used to be."

The fairy froze in place and seemed to be shivering. "This… This was the castle…?"

"Yes," Ganondorf replied, rubbing a hand over his sweat-shined forehead. "As I said earlier, this used to be."

She rushed forward and left the others behind. Ducking underneath the shadows of yet another brick wall, dusted over, Ribbon swerved between two smiling statues with faces dripping rainwater and surged into the darkness. The hum of her wings faded soon after.

"Ribbon!" Zelda lunged forward, picking up speed and darting at her retreating figure. "Get back here!"

There was no reply. Zelda slowed down.

Kirby stared up at the ghouls and ghosts painted black over the ground, the soundless stretches of plains made of ink.

Ganondorf looked at the castle wall ahead of him. The doors there, double-hinged with peeling coats of paint, opened into a mouthy abyss that wouldn't close. More shadows swayed in front of the maw, reaching through the trees, muting the sunlight that gleamed and settled, dappled, between blankets of clouds. "She'll be fine, as long as she doesn't go too far."

Snake shook his head. "She's not that stupid."

They walked around the door and followed Ribbon's path to the right, skirting around the circle of marbled shadows dancing about the gaping jaws, those creaking hinges, splintered wood scraping the stony earth.

"I don't think the castle looked like this before Zero. But, then again," and here Lucario coughed into his paw. "I wasn't around to know."

Zelda glanced over once, and there was something shining in her one eye.

Then she tripped, ripping her gaze away from Lucario as she reached out to steady herself. She landed hard on her knees, yelping slightly. Raising a hand to wipe her hair from her face, Zelda looked around, scanning in a half-moon in front of her.

In front of her was a field of broken glass. They shined in every color of the rainbow, every shade and tint, every size and tattered shape. Scattered about the muddied grass, twinkling in the midst of the terra-cotta fields and the dappled sunbeams, they lay silent, stifled and smothered in dust.

She tugged her foot from under a raw, ragged shard and rubbed her ankle. "I imagined this place as being a bit… brighter."

"Hmm." Ganondorf bent down amidst piles of glass, glared down upon another gaping maw that opened straight into the earth. The edges dripped with seeming saliva, saliva mingled with mud and flecks of dirt. Scattered blocks peeked out from the sides of the hole, their sides and tops forming haphazard stairs into the belly of the earth, the night-black center.

He took a step down, pushing upon the top of a single block. It held, and Ganondorf's second foot descended. Bits of glass crunched as he took another step on the tops of these slabs, the fired hair upon his head melting into the yawning chasm.

A moment later, he called from below, "It's safe for the moment."

Something down the hole echoed, and it echoed like a rung bell, echoed like shattered glass underground, and maybe it was…

Lucario murmured, eyes shut tight, "Something's moving down there, other than Ganondorf… It's flying, I believe."

"Do you think it's Ribbon?"

The Pokémon peered at a red-eyed Snake, who stared back with a hand over the sheath of his knife. "I believe so. There's a second presence alongside her, and it seems to be the Crystal, what with the way she carries it… I hope so."

And Lucario leapt down, balancing on a block before jumping again and landing in blackness. Echoing stomps reverberated up from the bottom, with murmuring voices, low rumbling whispers.

Kirby moved past Zelda and Snake and lunged into the hole. Without a word, he picked his way down the steps, taking his wide feet and plodding forward and falling slightly. He disappeared a second later.

Snake said suddenly, "Am I the only one with a bad feeling about this?"

"That… that's what you should have been saying the entire time we've been here," Zelda replied, laughing from the bottom of her throat. "I never expected you to say something like that. That was… unlike you."

"Yeah, well, times change."

"Perhaps. I can see that."

She followed the others and was swallowed by the earth. Almost.

"In fact," she said, stopping just before the curtain of darkness would have cloaked her completely, head to toe, "I was thinking how much you sounded like Lucario when you said that."

He raised an eyebrow, and his left eye twitched once more. Damn it. "Is there a problem with being cautious?"

"No. But I think that question you asked wasn't needed."

"Yeah, and neither was your commentary."

Zelda strained her neck to look upward. "Perhaps you should think about what you're saying."

"And what am I saying, exactly?"

"I'm saying, maybe you need to trust people."

She continued down without another word.

"It was an honest question," Snake muttered under his breath once Zelda was out of earshot, out of sight and in the earth below. He took a foot forward and plunged into the crevasse.

XxX

"So," Lucario began once Snake had landed at the bottom. "I do think we should proceed with caution from here on out."

Zelda stared hard at her boot through the dusky underground, as if trying to wipe away the grime with just her eyes. "That's a given."

Lucario had no reply.

The group walked down the tunnel, going further and further from the shaft of foggy morning sunlight behind them. There were torches on the wall, torches close to the ground and the ceiling, all burning in multitudes of colors, different shades of red, purple, black…

Something in front of them, in the darkness that drew on forever, whispered and howled softly, buried underneath something. It echoed back at them, and Snake felt his ears ringing.

Lucario closed his eyes for a moment, stopped walking. He opened them a second later and kept going. "I think it's clear," he mumbled. "But everything here feels too… quiet. Too empty… But, then again, that's normal now."

Their even-paced footsteps drowned out every other sound.

Snake froze in place abruptly as the others did around him, and something fluffy… puffy smacked into the back of his thigh with a _floop_. He whirled around and saw Kirby backpedaling, grasping his sword in one doughy hand and waving the other one about in a fit as he stumbled back on his feet.

He turned to the front again as Zelda narrowed an eye. "If you're thinking of splitting up, well, I don't recommend it."

The tunnel they had walked down cleaved through the middle, both branches spilling into the murky night of the underground. Torches flickered and sputtered for passing moments down both passages, burdened by an unfeeling, taut breeze of cool air. They glowed in the centers of halos of light, but those haloes wouldn't spread any further, would not illuminate the entire tunnel, and if only they did—

"We'll most certainly cover more ground that way," Ganondorf said.

Lucario was scanning everyone, scanning Kirby and Zelda, taking a moment to stare at Ganondorf's face. He looked at Snake for a fleeting moment and turned away, growling low in his mouth and flashing his teeth at the snarling shadows. "Like I said before, we should exercise caution."

"Do you want to split up or not?" Zelda flared along with the fire from her hand. "You haven't said anything against it, have you?"

No reply.

"We should split up," Snake blurted. "I'll go with Lucario."

Zelda whipped her head around to face him. "And this is something you should have a really bad feeling about. It's too dangerous, all of this…"

Snake cocked an eyebrow at her as her voice faded. He was doing that often now…

Then she nodded, cutting off her own words. "Guess I'm going with Ganondorf." And before anyone could say anything otherwise, she said, "But Kirby should come with us."

Kirby angled his head so the torchlight bounced off of his pink body. He didn't say anything, didn't reply, but maybe he couldn't say much anyway… He didn't talk much nowadays, really…

Lucario's paw settled down on Snake's wrist in a flurry of motion, and he was being pulled down the left tunnel, whipping past Zelda and nearly tripping over Kirby. The back of his neck tingled. Why? Maybe they were watching him, watching him slowly fade into the darkness as Lucario wrenched him further and further down the tunnel, his streaks of muddied fur phasing in and out of the rainbow firelight.

They stopped right next to a clawing stalactite poking from the ceiling, dripping cold water that made loud, hollow sounds against the tunnel floor.

After a long while, Lucario met Snake's eyes. "This is maybe what happens when you don't listen to the advice of others: we're forced to split up. United we stand, divided we fall. Isn't that what you humans say, in order to maintain a sense of camaraderie? Of loyalty?" Lucario murmured, and there was something glowing in his eyes. "Ribbon will be fine. We did not have to separate. If we find her as a whole group, we find her. Doesn't matter how long we take. She'll stay out of trouble."

"Why are you so hesitant with helping people out?"

"We aren't helping her. She went off on her own, faster than us, and now we're somewhere underneath a ruined castle with no way to tell whether the people here are enemies or allies. If there are any people here, anyway…"

"If we find Zero," said Snake, shifting on his feet, "then we find him. We can't afford to worry about whether we will or not."

"Are you saying that you'd be fine with us running into Zero again?"

Snake half-groaned under his breath. "No. I'm saying that it's bound to happen. Don't freak yourself out over it."

Shaking his head, Lucario replied, "We need to be ready, vigilant. And splitting up, looking for one fairy who can survive on her own is most definitely not the best definition of 'vigilant'. She will be fine."

"Why aren't you telling the others this?"

"They won't care to listen. Ribbon doesn't need help immediately. If she wants to explore the castle, she can."

"Do you think she can survive on her own?"

"Do you think she can't?"

Snake grumbled, "How about we both calm down and start looking, huh?"

"I would like an answer to my question, first." Lucario advanced, one paw placed in front of the other as he walked closer. 'Stalked' would have been a better word… His footsteps were silent, quieter than the _plunk _of water from the tunnel roof. "Do you think you are the only one who can stand up for everyone else? Maybe this isn't all your fault, eh? But you want it to be, to have the spotlight, the chance to be important. But maybe, maybe we can handle everything ourselves. And if you really want to play the tragic hero, if everything you do is for the 'greater good'," and here Lucario raised quotes with his paws around that last phrase, "then I suggest doing things right the first time."

Snake felt his fist clench. "And what the hell does that mean, exactly?"

"If you're all for sticking together, for helping others out… I suggest you try to save yourself first. And when you're trying to help others, try not to get anyone else killed."

The mercenary was all but frozen. He couldn't open his damn mouth—

"Kirby, Zelda. Take one step away from them to save Ribbon, and you put them in danger. But they… They can do well on their own, if you'd give them the chance, if you'd stop playing the hero, the protector. So why don't you give people a chance?"

"Yeah, well, you're a nice person," he said. Something in his voice cracked… "Thanks for the concern, but we really should be trying to look for Ribbon."

"Heh. Yes, well, you are a _kinder person than I could ever be_." Every word Lucario spoke was drenched with venom. He panted, blue aura bursting from his paws, cerulean smoke rising from his… eyes… "But you… You are weak, aren't you? Thinking everything is your fault, thinking the best of people and hoping what you do will bring that out… Perhaps if we were together with the others, we'd make sure not to go too far, not to expose ourselves. We'd perhaps negate each other's weaknesses. Perhaps we'd do better together, especially when we're not clinging to each other like overprotective parents. But alone, as some sort of pretending crusader? You're weak, and you can't protect anyone, not even yourself!"

Snake said nothing. What in the name of God was he supposed to say to that?

Lucario slammed a paw into the shaft's wall, bringing rocks like sand grains upon their heads. They settled in the mirror-like puddles and spread more ripples, more minuscule waves as the tunnel thrummed. He stood with his arm extended, silent.

When he spoke again, his voice was low. "Maybe you say you protect those who can't protect themselves. Maybe you have an excuse. But how do you know? Do you know what people are capable of?"

Snake shook his head. "I do this because no one else has to get hurt. I'm here, and Zero's here. Neither of us are supposed to be here anyway, so why should anyone else have to bother besides me?"

"We can help, you know. Provide aid…"

"I'd rather not have any."

Silence.

Lucario looked at him slowly, the edge in his words gone. "You're a very strange man, Snake."

He laughed once, sharply, and replied, "It's who I was born as."

The Pokémon didn't say anything back.

XxX

Ribbon flew underneath a dripping ceiling, curved in a half-moon and reflecting the warm light of the torches hanging alongside the slanted walls. Her wingbeats echoed off into the empty space around her, bouncing off the sides and ringing in the cavern, ringing and pulsing through the passages that sneaked through the earth.

The light from the Crystal radiated up and out. Her chin seemed to shine alongside it, and she could feel the warmth, the tickle of gentle energy against her skin.

But it was cold. It was cold here, and the droplets of water that splattered into her hair smelled musty… Old, covered with dust, sitting still in the changeless gloom that cloaked the caverns.

The Crystal shook in her hands as she continued forth, swerving to the side as a larger drop plinked to earth, and another plinking drop followed this one… Ribbon glanced up and flew to the side.

She peeked into a hole in the wall, a kind of cubbyhole emptying into dark nothingness. Whispering under her breath, Ribbon squinted and leaned in closer.

A crawling hum stalked out at her from this void, snarling with teeth bared, eyes that didn't exist gleaming like spotlights, spitting and wheezing from between locked jaws.

Ribbon backed up from the hole and zoomed past, further down the tunnel. The torches next to her, suddenly shining red, shining like blood pierced through with sunlight, whistled and curled after her as her wake left a stream of whipping air behind.

As more torches faded into view, the light growing in intensity, she let her beating wings slow, her tremulous hands to cool, to relax around the Crystal in her arms. The torches licked close to her face, crackling and snapping and drowning the hissing, the spitting and wheezing of the tunnel in echoes of rearing, roaring fire.

She glanced to her left, to her right. "It should be down here, somewhere…"

The tunnels talked back at her in her voice, in a layer of airy echoes. _Down here, somewhere… Down here… Here…_

In her grasp, the Crystal whispered and throbbed after her words, as if reaching out, wishing for something—

Something clinked behind her, below her on the ground. Ribbon turned around, wet hair whirling.

A pool of rippling water met her, the edges swerving and washing out as the center pulsated out in ridges. _Plink. _More water cascaded down, and the ripples continued, the fringes of the puddle now stretching out and fumbling for dry, dusted ground.

Shivering, she continued to fly through the passageway.

The silence seemed to go on and on through the tunnels, filling the space with whatever noises they could. Ribbon felt vibrations in the air, not from her wings but something different entirely… The Crystal was still thrumming in her arms so her shoulders began to ache, to bite at her bones after several minutes… The sound of water boomed everywhere, and her ears began to pulse in rhythm.

She turned a curved corner, and nearly ran into Snake.

Ribbon yelped and backed up as he grunted and pushed himself back. Heat rose to her cheeks as she said, "Hello."

Snake looked at her for a slow moment. "Hey. You alright?"

"Y-yes," replied Ribbon, nodding, up and down, up and down. "Did I worry you?"

"You had Lucario worried to hell and back," he said. But there was something in his eyes, a dim light made only dimmer by the mildewed energy around them.

"Oh." Ribbon sighed. Then, she asked, "So do you think this is really the castle?" Her voice was trembling. "We're underground, but—"

"Dunno," he replied. "Honestly."

Ribbon fell quiet.

"What were you looking for, anyway?"

She said, "I thought there was a Crystal Shard down here… I still haven't found it."

Lucario was suddenly at Snake's shoulder, standing a foot shorter than the mercenary. He looked at both of them with held breaths, tight chest, as if expecting something to fall in his lap at any moment. "It seems to appear that running off wasn't all that worth it. Eh?"

"Sorry," the fairy mumbled, eyes cast down. "I thought it would help everyone else."

Lucario growled.

Together the three of them walked down the next passage, skirting around puddles, silencing their footsteps.

The cavern narrowed and widened suddenly into a circular room, the torches blazing in full color spectrums of shining ink and purple radiating with a sheen to rival the sun. At the end stood a door, tall and straight with peeling planks of wood, piercing into the roof and beyond.

From behind it came a voice, low and quiet, spreading outward and filling everything, yet nothing.

Hairs rose on the back of Snake's neck as Ribbon said, her words quaking, "That was Zero's voice, wasn't it?"

XxX


	13. Evanesce

XxX

_Evanesce_

"Get Ribbon back to the others. Find Kirby and Zelda," Snake said, hand clenched tight. "I'll catch up."

The jackal Pokémon stared, eyes wide as saucers. "And what," he growled, "are you planning, o wise and magnificent one? All-knowing and omniscient, powerful and rich? Are you, by a wayward chance, planning to follow Zero? Planning to follow him and get yourself killed…?"

Ribbon looked between the two of them, swirling her head as she yelped, "Snake, you are not staying behind! You can't!"

"I do whatever the hell I want," he replied, "and if that means trying to figure out why Zero's here…"

"It doesn't matter. If he has a base in a conquered territory, well, it should make sense. There's no need." Lucario felt the top of his glove and ripped at the fabric as he said, "Didn't you hear what I said earlier? This is most definitely not what I meant. If you want to help our cause, it would be preferable if you don't end up dead."

He said nothing to either of them. What could he say? That he still had something to do, even if he was dead or supposed to be dead…? Hell, why did it matter if he died now?

Dealing with Zero… That was his duty, and his alone.

Wasn't that why he was alive now, as well?

"I'll just drag you down," he blurted, something very much like a lump tightening in his chest. "I've been out cold for most of the time, anyway."

Lucario said, "Everyone has their use."

"That was supposed to help?" Ribbon glared at Lucario, Crystal humming along with her as she said, "It didn't."

Lucario shrugged. Did he care? Hard to tell… "Snake does what he wants. He's free to act of his own accord, as anyone else."

But his voice was shaking.

"Find the others," Snake filled in, the volume of his voice on par with the dropping water around them. "You don't have to wait for me."

Ribbon was about to say something, but she couldn't. Why couldn't she? It's not that hard to say what you're thinking. Just… Say it…

Then, she said, "Come back to us, okay?"

She flew down the passage they came from. She didn't look back.

Lucario met Snake's eyes. "It's your choice. Your life. Whoever you care about more, yourself or… or us… Just make it… Make it count."

"I will."

"Snake. Maybe this won't make sense, but… You're destined to kill Zero. Nothing else. We've been here, and then you show up… Alone, and you're the only one who was brought back from the dead beforehand… I don't know why you were brought back but it seems that Zero is your only goal… And then, there's a good chance that after… After that, then—"

"I know. I'm not trying to—"

"Steal anyone's glory?" Lucario barked, "It's not even about glory, anymore. Perhaps at one point, I thought it was. But not now, and maybe I was, erm, foolish for thinking so… And now… Now it's just you two. Just you and Zero…"

"A fight to the death, then. Just, not as dramatic as it sounds."

"You have a chance at a new life," rasped Lucario, grasping Snake's arms in a grip that rivaled iron. "So why don't you live?"

Snake couldn't reply.

Shaking his head, Lucario muttered, "Again, it's your choice. But… It's never too late—"

"—to start living," Snake finished. "Yeah, I got it."

Lucario's face seemed to glow under the torchlight, the border of his cheek like the horizon of the setting sun. He gnawed on one of his fangs and said, "I'm glad you do."

Snake merely grunted.

The Pokémon nodded to himself and straightened his back, but his voice still shook as he muttered, "Stay hidden. Stay safe. Good luck."

And he bolted down the tunnel after Ribbon. His footsteps faded soon after.

Snake steadied himself with a single breath. The wound in his left shoulder was twitching again, pulling at skin, and the space above his left eye burned suddenly. He felt words tumble out of his mouth, but they were imaginary, and he could imagine himself calling Lucario and Ribbon back, saying that they should go after Zero as a group, and then things would turn out better…

That would have been preferable over being… alone, but then… Then Lucario and Ribbon would be in danger…

They can handle themselves…

Even so, they'd be in danger, and they don't need to be involved, not when I'm here and not when I'm not supposed to be… I'm disposable, if that term applies…

Snake pulled his knife out of the sheath. In the crinkling firelight, the blade's edge pulsed with stars.

He wrapped his fingers around the edge of the door and pried it towards him. Without a creak, a sound or a squeak, the door opened and spilled into a cavern that went on forever.

Then, a voice from further down, a second one that wasn't Zero's. Wispy, yet heavy and… dark, low…

Dark Matter?

Snake's footsteps patted against the ground in silence as he squeezed between the double-hinged doors, knife hand quaking.

Making as little noise as he could, moving his muscles slowly, slowly, Snake closed the door behind him and readied his dagger. He stepped behind a protruding shelf of stone, head low, back bent double.

He set out, alone.

XxX

"Milord," Dark Matter was saying. "They're here. You can sense them."

Zero said, "I know. I can feel their collective presence… Lots of… mixed emotions. Doubt, a bit of terror, the tiniest bit of anger. But, doubt, mostly. And fear. Their fear sticks out like a thorn, ripped from a bleeding rose…" Zero shook his head, and his fiery shadow ran amok with the motion. "I cannot sense their exact position, but as long as I am powerful…"

Dark Matter floated along next to him. Don't look back, damn you… "I regret that I could not bring him. The Crystal was an obstacle we failed to overcome. I apologize."

"You do not have to apologize," Zero replied simply. "What will come will come. There is always an end to everything. And the Crystal is not yet complete. If Ribbon does indeed find the last few Shards…"

"Then we'll have more to worry about," Dark Matter said, hefting his sword. "When the time comes, lord, we need to be ready."

"I know," came Zero's response. "It will happen, and the world will take its course."

"But… What were you planning for him, if I had succeeded…?"

"Who, Snake? I can sense more… heavy-heartedness in him than I can with the others… He bears a heavy weight… And I feel that using his… burden would further my abilities more than if I should use anyone else's."

Something swooped low in Snake's stomach, and bile rose up his throat. 'Using his burden'? His… suffering…?

"How would you use him? He doesn't seem like the type who would want to be used…"

"Careful persuasion. If needed, there is always the option of force. Although," and here Zero paused, "we may have to resort to the latter option immediately…"

Snake gripped his knife, his knuckles creaking, the leather splitting underneath his gloved fingers… They were probably going white… Damn it all—

"I was just wondering," Dark Matter interjected in a moment, "if you remember what you told me…"

"What I told you still holds true. Your wishes are in sight, Matt. Hold on to my advice, and what you wanted will lie before your feet. Well, your robes, and maybe not exactly your feet…" Zero sighed in a moment. "Their emotions aren't flaring as much anymore. Ribbon's Crystal annoys me; the reading on her is… Blurry, a bit empty. Interference, I assume."

"And the others?"

"Human, it seems. One can only feel that much before shutting off, remaining on the straight and narrow…"

Dark Matter, Matt, nodded. "Are… Are they broken?"

"People do not break that easily. Their hearts are the last thing to truly go. Maybe in some, their hearts will break. But for many, their hearts will mend. Only after the road ahead has become nothing but a living hell will the people lose everything." Zero added, "Do not make the mistake of underestimating others. Their lives are theirs to control."

"But," said Dark Matter, "but the darkness you spoke of…"

"Is still there, yes. In everyone. And for a large amount of souls, an inversion is not needed to unleash it. But don't think of it as something to… control them with. Perhaps 'influence' would be a better term." He stopped, and when he spoke again, his voice had a lower baritone. "I thought I told you all of this before."

Dark Matter didn't reply.

"You have your reminder. Keep on the lookout."

The being at Zero's side nodded but said nothing.

Zero stretched an arm out to the side, knocking a pale knuckle against a torch. The flares burst outward in response, twining around and through each other. "Is that doubt I see? Would I lead you astray, dear creation?"

'Creation'? Snake gave a start and nearly tripped as he walked under an overhang. Don't look back, don't look back…

He ducked into a crevice in the wall. A thin line tore across his sternum, the stone edges around him ripping at his thermal suit. His face, he felt, was stretching, his cheeks gaunt and cold to the misty air around him.

Zero created Dark Matter? Is that what that was?

"Your comrades were all based on you, you know."

"Yes, Zero. You've told me all of this before, remember? When we last talked?"

"Indeed. I do recall what I said. The prodigal son, the firstborn of my original creations…"

Snake swore that Dark Matter inched away from Zero. "I failed my first task. Please, don't put it like I had succeeded. I didn't, my lord. That's all that is."

"There is always a second chance. If need be, there are always more chances than that. You are the first, Matt, and you have potential. However, your… cruel streak could use a little bit more work. Perhaps your… compassion has leaked to others…?"

Dark Matter started, and the tip of his sword cut across the sides of the tunnel.

"But I wouldn't know what compassion feels like," Zero said, straight-faced, his lips tight. "Would you?"

"Of course not," Dark Matter said, glowing green eye bowed low. "Compassion is something unknown to me."

"But you'd need plenty of it in order to get what you want. Reminds me of a sort of paradox… what you want requires compassion, but the process to getting it requires a lack of." He laughed softly, but there was no warmth in that laugh, no feeling. "Did that make sense?"

"Yes," Dark Matter answered. He waved his sword about, the tip catching the light. "I see that."

"Hmm." Zero patted the sides of his tattered robes, straightened his sleeves and tugged at the bandages around his head. "Melodrama is my specialty. There is certainly a lot of that here, what with the… poetically dark and depressing environment around us. Ah," he sighed again. "Home sweet home."

He walked forward on silent footsteps, tailed by Dark Matter, and Snake mirrored him as Zero mumbled, "But it's quite cold here, isn't it? For a home? I hear that Ripple Star used to be warmer…"

The swordsman shrugged. "I suppose. But they had… seasons, before we came. So they had winter, fall, summer, and spring."

"Like… Like that human planet?"

"Earth, yes."

"Hmm, interesting. I didn't notice when I was conquering them. The little details like that tend to escape unnoticed."

Snake snorted to himself. _Don't let Ribbon hear that._

"Have you thought about bringing those seasons back, milord?"

"Yes, I have. But red skies in the afternoon are always interesting for me, no matter how many times I have to look up and see them."

"Do they… make you happy, lord?"

"Red skies? Maybe, if I knew what happiness felt like." Zero cocked his head, for all the world like a puppy, lost and confused on the street. "I would ask if you know what it feels like, but I am not sure if you do."

"Happiness… It's like a foreign concept to you, lord, isn't it…?"

"Yes. You could describe that as such. You would not be far off, either."

They walked forward another step, and Snake followed.

His foot smacked into a puddle, and the resulting echo plowed through the empty tunnels.

Dark Matter whirled around, catching Snake's frozen eyes, the dagger clenched tight in his gloved hand. He lunged, faster than light, and his sword met the knife, clanging wildly.

The sword flashed again, and Snake shifted his knife, barely catching the tip and throwing it to the side. Dark Matter swung, and Snake dodged, moved his head as the sword's passage left rents in the air.

The swordsman stabbed forward and Snake made to block… He saw the feint, the subtle move to the side as the blade shined in the torchlight—

And then pain erupted in his stomach, it felt ice-cold yet it burned to hell and back, there was a yell, loud, pushing out of his raw throat. Warmth splattered the ground and he felt the tip of the sword scrape the rock wall behind his back, heard the slashing of metal against stone. He staggered backwards and Dark Matter mirrored his feet with a swirl of his cape, creeping closer, spectral hand still tight around the sword hilt flush with Snake's stomach.

Snake met Dark Matter's eye, unblinking, his lips shaking. Blood pooled down his chin, and Matt drew his sword out. Snake trudged forward, knife held loose with clammy fingers as his suit was stained red—

A second hand grasped his neck and slammed him against the wall. The back of his head jerked behind him, cracking with the impact. The dagger flew out of his grasp and clinked to rest some feet away.

As Snake slid down the side of the tunnel, Zero stared down at him. "Have you been _eavesdropping_?" The last word Zero dragged out, every syllable stretching on forever. "Know that _eavesdropping _will not be tolerated."

Dark Matter heaved Snake from the wall and out into the open, out in the middle of the cavernous passage, blood dripping with each step.

Zero stepped aside him and extended his rusted arm out of his sleeve. He approached Snake on light feet, a beast in the shaded undergrowth, roaring from—

He threw a punch, a hook from his right. Barely, with a shift of his arms and hands, Snake caught the punch. Zero threw another, with his left arm soaring forward. Snake barely caught that one too, until both were standing still, bound by force, Snake's fingers wrapped around Zero's cold knuckles, blood-stained, the color of tainted snow.

"You dare?" The voice was a light wisp, a whisper of old recollections. "How can you dare, when your pathetic destiny is… or was… bound in the tragic blood I signify? When your ancestry is built on the ashes and broken bodies of others…?"

Snake was shaking badly all over, in his legs… His knees wobbled, but he wasn't that old now, was he…

Zero brought a knee upwards into Snake's abdomen. Snake crumpled onto his knees, all the air in his lungs gone, his stomach burning and burning and it wouldn't stop—

Then a freezing hand, hand and fingers coated in frost, had pressed into the arrow wound in his shoulder, newly opened, and the whispering pain, the howls of quiet glee, the heavy lightness of that formless voice long ago was back as he screamed, blood gargling in the back of his throat as the darkness ate at his vision, ate at the flickering, fading torchlight… This, this was too much… Unbelievable, unlike earlier, why, God, no—

_Go on living, and don't give up on people…!_

Why, why now, why, why—

The hand pressed harder, and Snake's screams increased in volume. It lifted him by the shoulder and he nearly fainted, he should have fainted but the pressure there was piercing everything through, he couldn't have fallen asleep if he'd tried, God, it was slamming him against the wall stomach first, and he nearly cracked his nose—

Then, it stopped.

Just, stopped.

He fell to earth, clutching his shoulder blade, his skin tingling all over, but now the tingling was almost like a burning and then a freezing, a freezing cold that scorched his face, his limbs. He couldn't feel his back, and he was twitching, his muscles uncontrollable as they spasmed and strained—

Through eyes marred with blood from a cut in his dusted hair, he looked up, saw a hovering figure in the mouth of the tunnel. Its wings seemed to glow, glow a blue, crystal-like sheen…

Ribbon…?

XxX

"Oh, hello there." Zero patted the top of halo-lit head, smoothed the bandages over. "You look mad. Are you?"

Ribbon brought her Crystal out from behind her back as she flew into the wide light of the torches, cascading over the walls in a wet indigo sheen. "I'm not mad. I'm just…"

She was quiet.

Zero frowned at her. "That's not much of an answer, friend of Kirby's. Speaking of Kirby… I wonder what he's doing now, or what he'd say if he saw this…"

Dark Matter looked up from Snake's broken body, lying still on the ground. "Fairy, why are you here?"

"I have the general consensus that the ruins of the Fairy Queen's castle aren't the nicest places to stop and rest in," Zero added, nodding.

She was silent for another still moment. Then, she mumbled, "I came to help Snake."

Dark Matter and Zero made eye contact for a lapsing second. The blade in Matt's hand turned and twisted, a gory stake over a fireplace coated in blood.

"He does not need help," Zero said simply. "In fact, he is beyond your help. Yours, or anyone else's. To help him now would be a waste of your time."

"No, it's not," Ribbon replied, shaking. "It's not a waste, but you wouldn't get it, would you…"

"It's not? Prove it." There was a dark growl in Zero's voice, a darkness that extended a beckoning finger while laughing, taunting in her ear. "If he is such a valuable person to you, if he is the faultless center of your universe, if his life is worth saving, prove it."

He bent over and threw Snake forward with a shadow-formed hand. Snake collapsed where he fell, unmoving, chest falling in slow motions that went on forever.

Ribbon made to go to him, to propel herself forward and come to his side, but then Dark Matter was there between them, sword poised and pointing at her face.

"Prove your loyalty," he growled. "If you can deal with his pain, you are worthy. If not…"

And there was an unplaceable tone in his words that made Ribbon back up.

Dark Matter flicked his sword, as if waving a wand, and Ribbon was howling, thrown back and writhing as black sparks danced alongside her skin and hair, this was pain and if this was his pain, she didn't want any of it—

The pain stopped, and Ribbon shook, rubbed her eyes, now wet and wide open.

Then Dark Matter waved his blade again, there was the pain, it was back, and Ribbon's screaming grew in pitch, the meaningless tone scratching the side of her throat, her head split in two, cleaved down the middle—

It stopped, and Ribbon flitted lamely to the ground, wings flapping of their own will but getting nowhere. The Crystal clinked out of her arms, tinkling like a faraway star on the ground next to her.

"Don't," Snake croaked from somewhere close by, through the foggy haze. "Don't… Ribbon… get out…"

"There. Not so loyal anymore, I assume." Zero hunched over Ribbon, twitching in spasms of ghostly haunts, phantom agonies on the floor of the sopping cavern. "Think twice before blindly trusting someone next time. Besides, you have eyes, don't you? Use them."

She curled up where she lay, wings falling still and curling up in themselves too, until they resembled nothing but spent cloth—

Snake reached a hand out and scooped at the ground, every fiber of his body stretching, tensing as the tips of his fingers brought him forward in a crawl, a crawl that leaked blood like a trail behind him as he reached toward Ribbon—

Matt's sword flashed from upon high, a glowing double-edged comet, and sliced Snake's back open, from his bloodied left shoulder to his right hip. He was screaming again, louder than Ribbon had heard before, there was blood pulsing in her head and her ears like the gush of blood from the jagged, razored cut that sat proud in between Snake's shoulder-blades—

His screams dissolved into whispers, tides of faltering babble as he choked. "Raiden, don't, no, no… Meryl…"

"And to think, those people aren't even here. Perhaps they're dead. I would not know." Zero planted a kick in Snake's ribs, and there was a crack, followed by a rasping yell. The robed figure standing high over him breathed deep, chest expanding, and said loudly, "I have not felt this… powerful in the longest time… Since that Crystal, well, I haven't felt normal in the slightest. But now, ah. Now… Now is different."

Zero stalked towards the Crystal, still shining in the suffocating darkness, the torches spent and quiet, their flames shortening and sputtering into lazy sparks. He drew his whip from out of his robe, gazed down at the stone at his feet.

As he brought the whip back, Ribbon's hand brushed quickly against the Crystal, and it flashed, a beacon in the night.

"I think it's time I got rid of this," he said, and a fire, uncontrollable, raging at the world and the heavens above, burned in his bloody eye. "I think it would be better for me. Yes. Yes, it would. It would most certainly help my… cause. Yes."

Zero's whip smashed down, and the crack that followed drowned out everything else, drowned out the drip of water, the echo of invisible noise, Ribbon's shriek—

The Crystal exploded, and the supernova that followed seared the back of her eyes, crushing her skull into itself, compacting it until it felt flat and toneless, until leaning forward made searing pains knife through her forehead. Everything faded, encased in an opaque bubble far away from the dimness below ground, a strange world somewhere far off that didn't exist, that was full of light and glowing yellow and white baubles that stood midair and didn't really exist—

Dust thrown into the air settled, the lights and jolly baubles faded into blurry mirages, and Ribbon found her cheek against the cold earth, pebbles biting and burrowing there, driving into her skull.

Zero was sprawled on the ground, limbs spread-eagled around him, whip curled in limp fingers. The Crystal lay next to him, still intact, the surface alight with a new sheen, born from the ashes, having shed its first skin. A pile of lifeless clothing was somewhere off to his side, heaved upon the wicked edge of Dark Matter's sword and covered in a strange violet coat.

Ribbon pounded her wings and flew to Snake. He was on his side, arms strewn in front of him, hard, stretched cheek against the floor of the cave in a pool of saliva and blood. His eyes were closed.

She remembered now. Zelda had told her, told her about… Galleom? Yes. That sounded right. Galleom. Zelda had messed up, missed the tank's head with her first fireball, landed the second but not before Snake—

"Snake, please." Ribbon blurted. "Please. Please. Don't…"

His finger twitched.

Ribbon flew next to him until her wings were brushing his side. She shook his limp arm. "Please. Come back."

There was no response.

"He doesn't belong here," the Zelda in her mind was suddenly saying, folding her arms and staring off at Ripple Star's red sky as they walked, a distance away from the others. "I'm sure his new home up there is a lot nicer than this."

She had gestured to the flat earth at her feet, no longer flat because of the Zelda-shaped footprints within. "He's losing it. And he's already lost a lot. The only thing that can help now is… Trust. But maybe he's given up already. It's alright. I wouldn't blame him."

Ribbon jolted back. Trust. Trust. Was this why, then? Why all this was happening? Did Snake not trust them enough? But…

"Snake," she whispered, heart racing, hands clammy. "Please. It's not your fault. Sorry, I'm sorry…!"

There, I said it, are you happy now… Maybe I am useless then, because I can't protect anyone, not the Queen, not Zelda, not Snake and not even myself—

And tears fell down her face, her cheeks as she sobbed.

She felt pressure on her arm. Ribbon lifted her head and saw Snake's hand clenched over her upper arm, shaking.

Snake looked at her, saying nothing, electric blue eyes wide and glassy. His lips were turning pale, faint.

Wordlessly, he let go of her arm and got to his feet. He bent over and picked up his knife, sheathed it. Snake took a step through the tunnel they came through and stumbled, slashing his cheek open on the stone and just catching himself with his left hand.

"Ribbon," he choked faintly. "Ribbon."

She followed at his shoulder, Crystal once again gripped tight. "Snake…"

Leaning on the wall, he trudged back through the tunnel, limping. His breath was like shattered glass, scraping and hollow. His feet dragged, and the sound of tearing cloth spread in waves through the underground.

"Snake, maybe we should wait for the others—"

"It can't wait," he snarled, blood dribbling down from his mouth and nose. "We have to get back, they don't know he's here yet—"

And he staggered again, coughing blood swirling in globs, bubbles of spit. His stomach gleamed red, too red, and that redness followed his legs down to his feet.

"But the Crystal, the Crystal knocked them out…!"

"Doesn't matter. It didn't… kill them." He wiped a trembling arm against his brow. "Ribbon. C'mon."

Snake kept walking, one step at a time.

And Ribbon, still crying to herself, could do nothing but follow.

XxX


	14. Astrals

XxX

_Astrals_

"Snake, slow down. Don't go faster than you need to…!"

He paid Ribbon no heed and stumbled down the next passageway, widening gradually as the exit yawned, beckoned with gaping mouth, unhinged jaws. The double doors that opened into the earlier part of the caverns loomed before them, leering through the now-flickering torches.

"Snake, don't you dare do anything reckless anymore… Zelda's going to kill you…"

"I'll already be dead by then," Snake replied, turning to her and illuminating the sculpted line of his jaw, highlighted with blood ran through with bleached torchlight. "It won't matter."

His chest was pulsing, and as he walked, hobbled along as the cavern wall held his hand, guided him closer to those stupid doors that lay under low stalactites and drains of cool water, he limped, and his arm grasped his stomach and covered the hole there…

"It won't matter," he was mumbling, and Ribbon returned her gaze there, to his chiseled face. "Just, tell them…"

"Tell them what?" She was clenching her fists now, but she didn't really have hands, she was like Kirby in that sense, and besides, she was a fairy… "That you gave up? It's not your duty, but you started this journey. It was your choice. You chose to leave everything behind, including… including your afterlife," she finished in a rush. "If… if you believe in one, anyway."

"Did Lucario tell you?"

Snake's voice was sharp, but it still rasped in his throat, and it made her own throat tickle, feel charged through with sparks.

Ribbon snorted. "Tell me what? That you gave up? You're not helpless. You're not worthless. So you don't have to give up."

He stumbled on for another minute, stumbled through those doubled doors. His head fell underneath a low-hanging torch, and the top of his skull brushed the bottom of the bracket, hair whipping against it. "No. He offered to let me stay behind. He knew I didn't have to do this. Or, whatever he thought…"

"It was your choice!" Ribbon's voice rose, like the screams she had screamed a while ago. "You left because you thought you could help!"

"Do you know that?"

"Yes, I do! I saw how into tracking Zero you were! You want to be the one to kill him, to end all of this… But that… That won't be good for you…"

He was staring at her, eyes wide, then narrowed, like spotlights filtered by the empty emptiness, the dark light that surrounded them in the cavern. "What about it?"

"What do you mean, what about it…? I mean that if you want to help, let us help, too! Just, it shouldn't just be you…" All her words stuttered out. "So can you stop being so hesitant…?"

"I'm not. I see no reason for any of you to get into this—"

"You are going to get yourself killed," Ribbon roared, voice rising and stirring mucus in her lungs. "You are going to get yourself killed, and we're all going to think it's our fault! It's going to make us feel worse, okay?"

Snake doubled over, and when he straightened again, his face was white, white and cloud-pale like snow tainted red. He coughed and couldn't… wouldn't say anything else.

Ribbon flew to his shoulder, his good one, and shook it back and forth, budging the Crystal against the ripped suit there, fluttering in tatters. "C'mon, Snake. We can do just fine. You don't have to worry about us."

"So you'd rather that I just worry about myself?"

"No. Well, maybe. If you haven't been able to yet."

He looked up, panting. "What?"

"Well, Zelda… Zelda said… she said that you've had a hard life… She said you haven't had much time to enjoy things, you know. I mean, you knew a few people who were your friends… But that's not enough, is it?"

"It's enough for me," he growled. "Didn't have time for friends, anyway…"

But he didn't finish what he was about to say.

"So," Ribbon mumbled, to cut through the sudden silence, "are we going to keep moving? And are you going to, um, trust us…?"

He still didn't say anything, only kept walking, kept trodding forward on heavy feet that pounded with every step, every fading heartbeat—

Footsteps, in front of them.

Ribbon stifled a yell as four soldiers, clad in dark armor like the ones before, rounded the corner with swords and shields bared, helms glinting sharply in the fiery nova around them.

They met Snake and Ribbon head-on, and hissed, backed up a few steps, waving their weapons and gesturing all about them. Their red eyes flashed dimly, but somehow they lit up everything around them… The mossed-over walls, Ribbon's Crystal now shining like the evening's sun, Snake's pale face accented with streaks and splatters of blood.

One of the soldiers, chattering something foreign, strode forward and looked Snake in the eyes. He prodded Snake's chest with a clawed finger, and Ribbon saw Snake wince, break eye contact for a moment as he tensed, before returning his gaze back to the soldier's face… But it was a face without any cheekbones, without blemishes, freckles, pimples, it was pure black—

The spectral soldier swung forward, and there was a blur of limbs, multiple cracking sounds, snapping and twisting, and that first soldier was on the ground, unconscious, sword discarded next to him, his helm and chestplate dented, arm at an unnatural angle.

Snake kicked forward, and the second soldier staggered back, clutching his side. One punch, then another, and another in rapid movement caught the soldier in the face, then in the stomach. He doubled over and fell, twitching before falling still after a moment.

The third cackled under his helmet, and the cackle sounded distant, in a faraway realm, echoing softly all around them, the whisper of a horned demon. He lunged alongside the fourth, head bowed behind the shield held over his arm as he rammed forward, a charging bull. Snake dodged to the side, landing a blow to the lower back as the warrior passed, catching him in a headlock. In a thought, Snake had flipped the soldier over and thrown him onto his back. He lay, rolling to the sides, head circled by clouds as the fourth hesitated for that brief second.

This one, the last soldier, raised his sword, building momentum to strike as he ran forward with the heels of his boots digging into the ground. His arms above his head, he towered over Snake as the mercenary clenched his fists—

Snake's leg whipped out in a flurry, and the soldier tottered where he stood. A second hit, a punch fired from a cannon, careened into his armored face. He hesitated, wobbled on fragile feet, and fell backwards. His head conked against the ground, rang like a gong, and lolled to the side as his body folded in on itself like a deflating parade float…

And someone whispered out at the two of them, just as there was a building rumble from behind the passage the soldiers came from, just as shaking dust descended from the ceiling like volcanic snow. "Psst. Guys."

A small shape, bouncing and squirrely, zoomed out from behind a stalagmite and stopped in front of them. It went up to the bottom of Snake's chest, and was taller than Ribbon… But Ribbon's bow got in the way of measurements… Maybe they were the same height—

Ribbon jolted, no, this shape, this _person_ wasn't the same height as Ribbon, and she was taller, even without the red beret on her mop of raven-black hair, even without the shoes and socks. Brown eyes widened on the plump face as her eyebrows, thin like streaks of charcoal, crunched up close to the nose. She lowered her paintbrush and palette to the side of her sea-green smock, stretching her neck as she looked at Ribbon and… and laughed.

"Hi, Ribbon," the girl said, eyes flickering strangely, in manic bursts as she patted her paintbrush to her palette, dipped the hairs in the blue paint and drew it out with a flourish of her wrist. "Nice place to meet again."

Ribbon rubbed her eyes. Her sleeve came away wet, and Snake was staring at her again but she couldn't care… There was a hole in her head, a headache between her eyes she couldn't get rid of. Who… Why…

"Adeleine…?"

She laughed, and the laugh was high. Like Ribbon's own, but with a lower tone, dropped a few notches in octave. "Yes, that's my name. Glad to see you remember!"

"Why… why are you here?"

Adeleine's smile wiped itself away, leaving a blank slate. "Well, I came here to study art, remember? Everything was nice, and I was getting lessons and all, but I can't say that anymore, exactly…" Her voice stuttered out.

Then her gaze turned to Snake, and even the gleam in her eyes faded. She looked up and down his whole height, taking in the blood, the face scarred and dirtied, the eyes that seemed off, one blue, and one red now… They had been blue before, briefly…

When she spoke again, her voice was even and measured. "Ribbon, why are you traveling with trash like this?"

"Oh, Snake? Well," she said hastily, to cover up the growl forming in Snake's throat, "he's, ah… I met him one day and we've been traveling together since—"

"I was just wondering if you were alone with him," Adeleine snarled, pointing a sharp finger at Snake's face, "because you really should know better. Especially after, y'know, the first time…!"

"Got a problem, kid?" Snake interjected.

"Yes, I do," snapped Adeleine, "and it has everything to do with you."

They stared each other down, Snake's free hand that wasn't covering his stomach straying to his knife, Adeleine's paintbrush whipping against the floor, leaving splatters of cerulean paint.

"Addie," Ribbon squeaked, edging away from the others, "what happened? Is there a problem? We can… we can help…"

Snake was about to say something, but as he opened his mouth, Adeleine said, teeth gritted together so tight as if to be glued there, "I would have thought you recognized the signs, Ribbon. Possession by Dark Matter isn't easy to miss. Well, huh. How often do you have your eyes closed nowadays? 'Cause eight to ten hours of sleep is recommended for a growing fairy like you…! And here, you'll need all the sleep you can get."

Ribbon jolted.

Possession?

By Dark Matter…?

XxX

"Jeez," grumbled Adeleine under a shower of dust, "don't look so surprised. It makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. Common sense, y'know. You've seen it before, so why are you acting like this is new?"

Ribbon shook her head, and that shaking movement spread to all of her, from her head to her toes, her wings to her hair. Snake can't have been possessed, it's just been a… a parasite, a mite latching onto him from Zero and hurting him, he can't have been possessed… No, no way…

"It's an inversion, from a while ago," she blurted, feeling very cold suddenly, and that feeling had nothing to do with the water dripping around them. "It's different…"

"No, no, it's not. It hurts, doesn't it? It hurt me a lot, being possessed like that," replied the painter, scrubbing her brush against the wall. "Fighting it, just having it… mill about in your system. Gets on my nerves. It was like… this constant whispering, and it was getting in my head."

"No," Ribbon said, but… but…

"Do you want to know about the nightmares Dark Matter gave me? Do you?" Her voice, still soft, was fierce now. "It hurt. A lot. And it almost got you and Kirby hurt. Remember? Me going all berserk like that… Must have scared you."

"Snake hasn't tried to kill us yet," said Ribbon, well aware of the knifing pain in her head, the strange wetness in her eyes, and the clammy, loose grip she held around the Crystal.

"'Hasn't'. Key word, right there." Adeleine went on. "Who knows? It'll happen, as it does with everybody. People get angry, and then they get possessed, and then everything just kinda spirals after that. Down, down, down." She gestured with a twirling finger at the floor. "It happens to everyone who gets possessed. They lose it."

She looked up at Snake but didn't meet his eyes. "Is your skin turning gray? I can't tell right now; it's too dark."

He gave a tiny nod.

"See," she said, nodding as if everything she had ever said had been spot-on, had been completely correct, but no one had listened. "I told you! Except this is a bit worse, with all the gray skin and things. Oh, and Zero can control you. Like a puppet, a mindless zombie."

A shadow passed over Adeleine's face, outlining her spiky hair from underneath her hat.

"But not yet. The possession isn't complete, and Snake can't hurt anyone because the Dark Matter in him hasn't taken over completely, right? And so Zero can't control him yet, either…!" Ribbon's reply came fast, rapid, in pulsating breaths that pressed the sides of her ribcage together.

"Ribbon, calm down. You're panicking." Adeleine leaned over, stared deep into the Crystal and stroked it with her hand. "The moment you stop asking questions is the moment that everything will be fine."

"No, if… If Zero can control Snake… then, then what are we supposed to do? If Dark Matter cannot be removed and only held back, then what can we do? Is there anything to do?"

"Ribbon, stop," Adeleine barked, waving her brush up and down. "Don't. Everything's cool for now. Just wait it out…!"

"Wait a moment," Snake said, barging into the conversation. "Dark Matter's the swordsman, so am I being—"

"No," Adeleine immediately returned. "'Dark Matter' is a collective term for the dark forces at Zero's command. While it does refer to the swordsman, it also refers to everyone else. Those swordsmen with armor? Dark Matter. Those other strange guys with crossbows? Dark Matter. And those guys with spears? Dark Matter."

She looked around at her audience, shielded in the uneven shadows the torches left upon the underground walls. "Makes sense? I hope so. I do believe it was short. Ish."

Adeleine finally stepped back from the wall, and the space around her in an arm's length was coated in blue, several times over, looking more like navy blue in the darkness and a blue-purple with the torches scattered around it. "Wow. That turned out fine. It was just to test my brush, but y'know…"

Ribbon screeched, screeched in a whisper, "Addie, can you come with us? Please?"

She started. "Oh, uhm. Maybe. I don't know." Adeleine once again pointed at Snake, this time with her paintbrush. "Now that he's here, and now we've cleared up this whole possession mess, um. Where's Kirby?"

"He's somewhere here. We've been traveling with a few others. Kirby's there, too."

"And you've got the Crystal."

"It's not complete, Addie. Do you have any Shards?"

"Yeah, I do." She dug around in her dress, and the fabric popped up underneath her rummaging fingers. Then she drew her fist out, opened it in front of Ribbon's eyes, turned her back to Snake as if pushing him out of the way. "Here."

The Shard gleamed, and the Crystal Ribbon held gleamed too, until both pieces were singing together, shining like bright stars on winter nights free of clouds. A flash, and the smaller Shard was gone from Addie's open palm. The Crystal in Ribbon's arms hummed some more, and finally dimmed, closed the curtains, left the darkened stage in foaming silence.

"It's not complete yet," said Ribbon, eyes watering again. No, not now, no, agh…

"So it can't dispel Dark Matter from people," Adeleine replied. "Not until it's complete. Remember the Fairy Queen? It dispelled the Dark Matter inside her and released—"

"Released Dark Star, okay, okay…"

"So we'll have to keep looking, then…" Adeleine sighed, still wouldn't meet Snake's eyes as she said in a short voice, "A completed Crystal will definitely help."

Another rumble, more dust, and the passageway, the tunnel back to the entrance exploded towards them in a plume of dust. Torches fizzled and died where they flared, the water around them was dirtied, cloaked in centuries of detritus and insect remains.

As more soldiers leapt from the cloud, two red eyes gleamed from the storm, the miasma of loose pebbles and grime. The carapace, once again gleaming and returned to a diamond-like shine under the glaring sun, had that same purple-black color all around the body, the claws.

Ribbon jolted back from the arrivals as those Dark Matter soldiers all jumped forward and stopped in line, barricading the passage and blocking the way to the tank now sitting proud against the dimming sparks.

"Not again," she heard Snake grumble.

"Is that Heavy Lobster?" Adeleine eyed the soldiers keenly. "Those soldiers look familiar, but then again, all of Dark Matter's soldiers look the same. But Heavy Lobster? That's something new, and exciting…"

She stepped forward. "I just wanna try painting Heavy Lobster. Cover for me, alright?"

Snake looked at her as if she was about to jump into a meat grinder. Ribbon, shaking still, grasping her Crystal tight so opaque smudges appeared there, and said, "Okay. We can try… I guess."

Adeleine dipped her brush in her palette, gathering up a heap of red paint, covered up the blue on those hairs as a group of three warriors converged, hissing and stabbing forward, poking the air with their swords and spears. They came closer, closer, and Adeleine waved her paintbrush in a slashing motion forward.

Immediately, the first soldier in front fell, a red-marked slash cutting through his armor as if he'd been cut by a sword, but it was just a bit of paint from a paintbrush, that was all…

The second soldier charged, spear extended to its full length, intent on piercing Addie's face, but she swerved to the side and smacked another soldier on her right with more paint. That one fell, helm cut clean through, the dark face underneath dissolving, the red eyes dimming like fading lanterns.

The soldier with the spear swung, caught Adeleine's cheek. She gasped, blood flying in burst and small droplets from the cut. She swung her paintbrush again, and the paint traveled forth in a stream that lashed against the soldier's chest. A chasm, a canyon appeared in the metal there, and the soldier went down, weapon clanging far away.

Adeleine rubbed her wounded cheek and looked down at her fingers. "Ouch. Jeez. That stung. A lot." She laughed a bit, and her laugh was shaky, like her foundations, the ground she stood on was quaking. "But it's cool."

And she dipped her paintbrush again as more soldiers swept out from between Heavy Lobster's feet, rushing at the trio with blades drawn.

XxX


	15. Riven

XxX

_Riven_

Adeleine laughed as she swung her paintbrush, knocking the helmet off a Dark Matter halberdier and sending him toppling to the floor in a crumbling heap. She ducked under a swing from a spear, a bash from a shield, and stabbed, wet hairs on the brush's head flying everywhere, her forward motions only stopping so she could dab more red paint on her brush. Her eyes scanned her opponents, peeking closer for weak spots, but every now and then, she would look farther ahead to see Heavy Lobster, standing there, claws extended.

She gave a yell and thrust forward through more armor. There was a sound like a miniature firecracker exploding, cracking ice through a bitter winter's morning, and the soldier crumpled. Adeleine leapt over the melting husk of his clanking gear and sprinted towards the tank's feet.

A blast, loud and piercing, cut the wall and punched a smoking hole there. The smoke cleared, and Lucario stepped through. He took one look at the enemies pouring out before them, saw Snake and immediately turned his eyes to his stomach, glared at Ribbon with nary a word, and saw Adeleine, who had frozen on the spot. He nodded once, and Adeleine nodded back.

Then Addie charged, resuming her sprint, and the ground boomed underneath her. She trailed her paintbrush behind her as more soldiers rushed with weapons drawn.

Lucario yelled, "Are you insane?"

"That was an extremely unnecessary question, stranger!" Adeleine felt the voice in her throat ripped out of her as she somersaulted underneath a sword swing and rushed forward. "Because everyone knows I am!"

Ribbon's wings flapped behind her as the Crystal shined in her path, and the warrior nearest to her backed up, red eyes dimming softly, like dwindling torches… He opened his abysmal mouth, blackened and without light, and jabbed forward. When his sword contacted the moving Crystal, still grasped tight in Ribbon's arms, the blade sparked blue, sparked with bursts of incandescent energy all the way down to the hilt. His fingers burst open, and the blade shattered. Ribbon rammed into him and threw him into the wall. Dust fell around him, confetti to his welcoming party.

When he had toppled backwards and slid down the wall, Ribbon looked around, over the heads of the soldiers still surging from behind Heavy Lobster.

There. Adeleine had taken down another soldier, now swinging her brush faster and faster… Red paint covered the ground around her, in splatters, half-circles, ribbons and bows. She had made it past a few more, yelling things and kicking wet sand, wet pebbles that stung like hail up into the vacuous faces of the soldiers before her. But her face was shining already, and Ribbon had a feeling, a feeling that sank into the bottom of her stomach and down into her lifeless feet, that it wasn't because of the water still endlessly flowing from the ceiling, and it was of because of something else entirely.

If she strained, she could hear it: Addie's breath, loud and stinking, scraping like sandpaper and rasping, brushing like serpent scales.

Ribbon flew forward and rammed another soldier. The impact knocked him back, and Ribbon saw stars dancing on tiptoe, circling her head, swirling about in ovals and ellipses. But she soared forward again, and there was a second impact… She felt something hard, metallic cave underneath the Crystal, there was another crunch, and this soldier let out a yell, a yell that sounded miles underwater or from another planet entirely…

"Ribbon!"

Who had yelled? Snake? Lucario? Addie? Whoever it was, it—

A flash of sapphire light burst into being behind her. She yelped and ducked, and she felt the Crystal slip between her shaking arms but she held on, it would be a disaster if she let go now…

Behind her, she heard Lucario roar, "Don't get yourself killed! Get back here!"

"Do you want to leave? Do you want to destroy Heavy Lobster or not…?!"

Then Lucario was at her side, fighting through waves, bursting through hollow Dark Matter shells as he yelled, voice rising over the clashing, crackling din, "_You are going to get yourself killed trying to help! _Remember where that got Snake…?"

She glanced once over his shoulder and saw Snake as Lucario raised a palm to a soldier's visor. The helmet underneath shattered, and the Dark Matter warrior underneath was already gone, twisting and writhing until it was nothing, nothing in the darkness—

Snake was fighting too… He had just elbowed a fighter in the chest, and the gleaming mace flew out of his hand and slammed into the cave wall… Snake twisted around, moved his arms so fast it was like watching a film in fast-forward; the next person to cross him dropped his sword and melted instantly. Snake's eyes were wide, and his mouth was slightly open as another enemy wielding twin daggers rushed him. He only dodged in time, and even then one of the knives cut his right elbow, scraping straight through the protective pad there… Then the specter swung again, and Ribbon felt an abrupt breeze at her side that was Lucario fighting another nameless swordsman; she wrenched her glance away from Snake as Lucario threw the melting body to the side.

Another soldier spiraled out of the way and smashed into the floor to her immediate left, trailing blue smoke… Ribbon glanced farther again, saw Snake's face twist upward suddenly as that same Dark Matter spirit fell, both daggers now coated in a thin sheet of blood, a dim ruby that matched the blood spreading over the mercenary's stomach. There were cuts up and down his arm, and the grayed skin around his eye was pulsing with black veins.

For a moment, a fleeting second, he looked up, caught Ribbon's eye. He turned away as another soldier, armed with an axe, lunged at him. Snake was gone, amidst tangled bodies.

"He's fine," Lucario yelled. "Focus, or you'll get us all killed, Adeleine too…!"

That's right, Addie was here, she had forgotten in about ten minutes… Ribbon just couldn't see her, but there was a mass of moving limbs, flashing weapons and metal close to Heavy Lobster, and that was probably where Addie was…

The Crystal shined in her arms, and the warmth from the glow, the glow like a fireplace, shuddered through her, and radiated outwards. The nearest soldier screeched, yelled in an unplaceable language and was gone a moment later, gone as if he never existed. Then others followed suit, and then there was a ring of unfilled space, empty shells of armor and owner-less weapons strewn about her and her Crystal's lantern glow.

She looked around, hair plastering itself over her eyes. Lucario wasn't looking at her, he was throwing spheres of blue smoke that hummed, and those orbs melted into chests, through armor, and sent waves of energy rippling about, tearing the bodies they had melted into and dividing them into segments that disappeared in mere seconds. Adeleine was nowhere to be seen, and the noise at Heavy Lobster's feet was getting louder, until more dust rained down on the parties…

A sound like a rushing tank echoed. Heavy Lobster was charging, eyes still that same red, that same unblinking glow like headlights, and his claws rent the air mercilessly. Soldiers on his own side fell, and there was a loud screech from somewhere in the moving clouds, the chaos… It sounded… young, and familiar to her, and Ribbon felt her chest tighten, her heart sink…

With a roar, a roar like a charging lion, that same blue smoke bursting from every inch of him, his eyes on fire, Lucario leapt and raised his gloved paw above his head. There was a sound like ripping paper, and suddenly his paw was engulfed in a blue light like a shell, a beam of cerulean energy that elongated out over his paw from the stone in the glove to a tapered point some few feet from his paw-tips… He opened his snarling mouth and leapt downward, howling as he tore through Dark Matter's army, felling opponents with this glowing blue, holographic blade that thrummed with navy blue flames up and down the sides. He lunged from body to body, using the backs as leverage and momentum to spring forward, intercepting Heavy Lobster and slashing through the flames that threatened to eat him whole, to swallow him and spit him out as ash and dust—

Adeleine screeched and waved her brush as more flames surged at her. The paint dissolved midair, and she rolled to the side, beret askew. The tangle of metallic feet followed, and she yelled above the din of loud crashing metal, and Lucario, with another roar, slashed through Heavy Lobster's legs and abdomen.

The tank toppled down, landing hard and scattering rocks in all directions. It screeched a few times, maneuvered its claws so they opened and spewed flame, but the fire from Lucario's… sword was still flaring through the metal shell of the beast. When it reached the front of the tank, the cries coming from Heavy Lobster died away as its casing turned to molten steel, dripped off the frame in hunks and thick drops.

The flashing of metal light, the clash of armored feet and the thudding of bodies began to fade. Warriors backed up from Ribbon and Lucario, still holding their weapons and muttering softly. Adeleine groaned from her stomach-down position on the floor, grumbling, "I'm alright. It's fine, fine."

The fighting stopped.

Something in the passage they had just left was stirring, rumbling, an incoming storm from darker tides across the oceans, and Snake let out a yell from behind Ribbon, and the yell traveled down her spine, the Crystal shook with her, and this was all so unfair, and _he had been through enough, and he didn't need any of this…!_

She turned and saw Zero and Matt, both standing in a cleared circle, surrounded by swordsmen and spearmen and mace-wielders and assassins with daggers, flanking Snake. He was on him knees, he had dropped his knife, and there was a scar, red and angry, down his chest…

Lucario snarled, snarled and snarled and he would not stop… His sword seemed to glow even brighter, and Ribbon could relate—

"Haven't you picked a different victim, Zero?"  
"These decisions take time, you know." The… angel, bloodied with one eye, gestured around him. "Choosing Ripple Star's catacombs as a second base for comfort and extra territory, deciding which of my… monsters I should send out to hinder you and to prolong your suffering, or debating whether I want to kill Snake or Kirby first. Nova knows they both deserve it, so maybe I'll kill them both, in due time. I have all the time I need. Isn't that right, Dark Matter?"  
Matt nodded. "Yes, lord. That's right."  
"But there's always a reason for everything, I assume. Maybe even for being happy. If there's a reason to be happy, well, it certainly is a reason, and you can't deny it. But what reason do you have, for standing up to me…?"

"If it means we can revert everything to normal, to get our homes back and erase everything you've ever done, then…" Ribbon's reply was swift, and now both Zero and Matt were looking at her without breaking eye contact, and that was definitely not what she wanted, not at the moment—

Zero gestured at Lucario, standing over Heavy Lobster's husk and Adeleine's dust-covered body. The jackal had all but frozen on the spot, his aura blade gone and all the energy radiating from him dwindled to a mere spark that could light up nothing. "I'm talking specifically to you, little moth, little Lucario. Why resist? I've seen you, heard you, felt your emotions. So, I ask again, why?"

Lucario was shaking all over. He clenched his fist.

"No response? Well, then," Zero said as he angled Snake's face up to face the torchlight still going strong, "is this pain really worth it…?"

Snake's face was bloody. That was it; there was no other way to describe it, and his left eye was completely surrounded by gray skin. If Ribbon focused she could see something churning beneath the top layers… Maybe it was his blood, tainted gray like his skin, or maybe it was the Dark Matter inside him, worming its way through him, all in Zero's name—

Matt slashed again down Snake's chest, and the mercenary winced, but his mouth had opened, a little grunt had gotten out… Ribbon had barely heard it but Lucario grunted too, tensing as if he was the one getting hurt here…

The sword stabbed forward in a blink, and Snake's mouth opened and stayed open; the blade had gone through his chest, above the first wound… He was breathing fast, and blood was racing down his front…

Matt withdrew the sword for the second time, and Snake fell forward immediately… There was no scream, no gaping cry of mercy to the heavens. He fell, and lay there on his chest, unmoving.

"Was it worth it?" Zero asked, quietly. "Was this brief friendship worth it…?"

Lucario was shaking even more now, and his paws were once again burning bright… The spike there was glinting, cruelly gleaming as the magic stone next to it gleamed as well. "He's dead now… You ask him, because my answer won't be the same as his…"

"But… it hurt you too, didn't it…? Watching him die…? It feels like you just lost a part of yourself. And I bet he feels afraid, even though he's said he doesn't know what fear looks like…"

"You… wouldn't know… You're not me, or him…"

"And I'm glad I'm not. He was a bit… useless, I say."

"And what makes you say that…?"

"It's obvious. He couldn't save you. Or himself."

Lucario screamed, and it was a scream of rage held back by nothing. He leapt forward, the blade once again centered above his right paw, dove for Dark Matter and slashed down, to both sides, slashed up. Dark Matter blocked all of them and threw Lucario to the side, a force unseen aiding the movement of his nonexistent arm. There was a sound like shattering glass, rubble and rocks rolling down a hillside to land heavily below, ready to crush anything waiting there…

The Pokémon slid down the wall and fell, unconscious.

Ribbon glanced around, everything felt so cold and clammy, her hands hurt… The Crystal with her was just as cold and lifeless, like the abandoned husk of someone she knew… Was it? Maybe it was, and it wouldn't be too hard to believe any more…

"Ribbon, you look tired, so tired. Scared. You certainly feel scared. You feel like hiding underneath a bed somewhere. And… is that sadness I see? You have room to be sad here?" Zero tutted, "Lucky you. Only because the others could protect you, cover up your pathetic mistakes while you cried yourself to sleep—"

"Shut your mouth!"

Adeleine was up, teetering next to Ribbon, red-tipped paintbrush in both hands, palette discarded. "You." She was looking at Zero, her eyes boiling. "Don't say that to Ribbon ever again."

"Oh. You're still here…?"

"What, does no one like me?" Adeleine cried to no one in particular, "If you don't like me that much, well, too bad. I like art, alright? So there. Deal with it."

"I never said anything of the sort. It was merely a statement of surprise." Zero waved an airy hand at the two. "Matt. I'd like you to kill them for me. But cut out their eyes first, then their arms, and then Ribbon's wings. Why not break Adeleine's brush, too…? Go ahead."

Matt waited, robes milling about him in reticence. "Are… are you sure?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

He still waited, lulled around for another word, necklace jangling with the beads pinging off one another. His eye seemed to widen, then settle. His sword fell to his side and hung there in silence.

"Matt, you're hesitating…" Zero watched Matt pointedly. "Haven't we talked about this before…? You really do need to work on this more than I thought…"

"Is this really necessary?"

Ribbon thought about it… she thought about cleaning her ears, because Dark Matter, the one with the sword covered in blood, had just asked if it was necessary… It was hurting her brain, and everything hurt too much now; it reminded her of earlier when he had pointed that stupid sword at her…

"Yes, it is," Zero replied instantly. "Or do you want me to do it for you? I have no qualms with that. They're just insects… With feelings, yes, but they are still insects, mere bugs in all this… Fun to influence, maybe…"

Something in the atmosphere charged, changed with the crashing, raging tides. Ribbon and Adeleine drew closer together, Crystal and paintbrush held out at the circle of soldiers that seemed to tighten… Zero and Matt both came closer, but Matt was lagging behind—

"Ribbon," Adeleine whispered. "That guy, the one with the possession… That's Snake, right…?"

"Yeah… he was…"

"No. He 'is'. What's his real name?"

She laughed suddenly. Really…? How had she never bothered, never once had the urge to ask him? "I don't know."

"Well, that's a reason, isn't it?"

She moved her brush arm so fast Ribbon saw nothing but a tawny blur of wood. The paint was slapping onto a vertical canvas in front of them, hovering midair as the red paint seemed to shimmer as shapes appeared in the glop. Addie moved about, her whole body moving and twirling in rhythm with her brush, until the paint glop in front of her looked something more like… a bird, with wings extended…

The glop shimmered, sparkling wildly. It melted from the vertical canvas but solidified when the picture turned to more of a model, with three dimensions… Red faded from the wing tips, turned silver, blue, then to green, yellow orange. A beak, bright yellow like the sun, carved itself from the paint, and the great bird, tall as a house, drew its crested head back and screeched.

It lunged forward, wings spread, cawing madly, talons like foot-long knives extended forward, grabbing for the circle of Dark Matter henchmen. Its claws tore through the barrier and it soared to the space beyond.

Ribbon looked at Zero, and his eye held hers in place. Over the squawking of the rainbow-shaded raptor and the tearing of armor, Zero said, "You're being foolish. Very foolish. Why fight? Less pain for you if you do not give me anything to break down."

She murmured, but she wasn't sure if Zero could hear, "We have nothing else."

The Crystal's glow had multiplied tenfold over the last few moments… It was a crystal chandelier, scattering the glow of a thousand candles spread about it in cascading ripples of building light. It tugged at her, pulling her along, working its way to her heart. Ribbon closed her eyes, held the Crystal out in front of her. Her heart thrummed, and the thrumming spread up her arms…

When it left the Crystal, it departed as a single path of light, a beam that sank into Zero's chest.

Matt stumbled to the side, or whatever was his equivalent of stumbling, as Zero staggered, gripping his chest over his heart. His eyes met Ribbon's and saw the strange… gleam there, the upturned… mouth…

He snarled, but Ribbon could not hear the words. Addie was busy controlling the bird, watching its movements and prodding whatever soldiers strayed too close with paint… She hadn't seen Zero mouth those words, hadn't heard them—

Zero beckoned at Matt, and the both of them disappeared.

Ribbon stared at the spot they had vacated in silence.

Adeleine cheered the bird on, yelled, "Yeah!" as its beak ripped through armor, cleaved straight down another's body. It soared above them, cutting the rock face and flying to the side, maintaining altitude in the high-roofed room as the cavern wall sent rocks tumbling down upon the soldiers below. They yelled, they screamed in raspy voices that Ribbon and Addie could not hear as they were crushed—

"That's how we do it…! Show these amateurs who's boss!" Addie pumped a fist.

Then, with a last screech, a clank of metal and heavy equipment, the last Dark Matter soldier faded from being. His wisp, his spirit carried to the ceiling and exploded in a puff of mist.

Adeleine yelled again as the bird came for a landing at her feet. "That was great! You really did show them… Man, sometimes I wish I was a bird…" She rubbed her cut cheek, looked down at her fingers. "I've always wondered what it feels like to fly with actual wings. Must feel great…"

The bird bent over, nudged Addie over with its beak. It gave a short caw, a flap of its tail feathers, and dissolved into powder that sank into the floor and disappeared, from the head down to the claws.

"That… that was awesome…" muttered Adeleine. "I didn't know I could do that. I mean, Dyna Blade's not the easiest thing to paint that quickly… It's taken me ten years to paint something like that in ten minutes, if that made sense."

She turned to watch Ribbon, and her radiant, cheek-to-cheek grin faded.

Ribbon was crying, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve but still she cried, and her tears wouldn't stop, even as she flew over to Snake and settled next to him, flipped him onto his back and saw the blood there—

But his finger twitched, and even as she watched he was still breathing.

His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, and he was bleeding, and he was still breathing but his breaths were getting short—

"Addie," Ribbon rasped, "can you make bandages? Gauze?"

"Oh, ah, yeah. I can." Her paintbrush was moving again, and now she had bent to retrieve her palette.

Ribbon stared at his still face, the stubble there masked with blood and mud and other things besides… There were loose pebbles trapped in his hair, and the cuts on his face hadn't healed yet; they were still scabs that were wet and grimy and they stuck to Ribbon's hand when she went to touch them, she was just being her curious self again, but she never had time to anymore—

She burst into more tears as the Zero in her mind laughed at her. Would he know the meaning of laughter? No, he wouldn't because he likes killing and suffering and he killed _the Fairy Queen and laughed about it, I'm sure—_

Ribbon wiped her eyes again. She couldn't cry, but Zero would still laugh at her, but that laugh would mean nothing but an exhalation of air from his lungs, or whatever he used to breathe—

Lucario was suddenly next to her, rubbing the back of his head. He said nothing, mentioned nothing.

What was Zero thinking, singling out Lucario? Why? What was it he had said to the Pokémon? She thought, but the memories were there, just slightly out of reach… Why couldn't she remember?

_Oh, Ribbon. Always asking clueless questions._

Don't cry about that… That's just another thing for Zero to pick on you for…

She sniffled loud, and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Addie look up from her painting. Addie then straightened, holding out white bandages cleaner and brighter than the torches, the cleared puddles of cold well-water.

Yes, unlike Zero's bandages, wrapped around his head so scary-like—

Ribbon quickly bent, holding the bandages so Addie or Lucario wouldn't see her tears. She set about wrapping the bandages as Lucario held up Snake's body, supported his weight so he wouldn't fall again, but that's what comrades who respect each other would do, right…?

Shaking again, shaking like she had just thawed out from a day in the snow, like on Shiver Star… not again… Ribbon grabbed her Crystal as Lucario slung one of Snake's arms around his shoulders.

"You aren't tall enough," she blurted.

Lucario didn't look at her, didn't say anything at all…

Addie took the other arm after having belted her painting supplies at her belt, but she was shaking too, so Ribbon wasn't the only one trembling like she had frostbite, like she was frozen from the feet up. "I know I'm not tall enough, either, but it's worth it… I hope…"

She bit her lip. "I don't want to be killed by another case of possession. Anything can do me in. Anything, but that again."

Ribbon felt herself choking as they stepped around Heavy Lobster's cloven shell, its sheen no longer something to rival the sun's. They walked through the widening passageway, squeezed through another passageway back to the entrance, and another, winding their way through and finding their old route, all in silence.

_You are nothing, aren't you, Ribbon?_

She shook her head, biting back tears.

_I know the truth. You are._

She would have denied this, would have told this voice, low like the sound of falling bricks that she was something, was worth something valuable, but she couldn't think. The voice sounded like Zero, and maybe it was—

_But the evidence is all around you._

The voice, Zero, stopped.

_Don't you see it?_

XxX


	16. Observatory

XxX

_ Observatory_

"Hey," Zelda said, staring at the ceiling. "Did you feel that?"

A tremor shook the passage as Kirby and Ganondorf both looked up. They blinked, dust falling about them alongside drops of cave water. Kirby licked the side of his mouth and recoiled. He spat a pebble out that clinked into the wall.

"Do you think it's the others?" Ganondorf asked.

Zelda was about to reply, about to open her mouth when another quake reverberated around them. Somewhere far off, through rock walls, there was a screech, a scraping of metal, and the passage continued to shake.

She growled and wiped grime off her mask. "They should be alright, as long as their minds do not wander."

They walked along for another few steps and came to a fork in the tunnel. This fork had four prongs, each reaching off into their own space, penetrating the darkness as far as the rippling light of the torches would allow. The air down each of them smelled musty, timely and worn-down with the erosion of salt and sand.

Kirby ambled down one fork, nearly hitting his head on a torch bracket. Stumbling, he backed up and traced a circle around the torch with his wide feet. He walked past it, into the tunnel proper, and Ganondorf followed.

Zelda watched their retreating backs and felt a voice at her ear.

_Nothing, nothing at all._

She whirled around, did a one-eighty and faced the voice.

_You wonder where they are, wonder where their paths took them? You wonder how they're doing? That you still care is nice. I wouldn't know what that feels like._

A distinct feeling pounded through her brain, and Zelda punched the wall. Dust scattered everywhere, and she could hear the harsh, nasal scraping of enchanted steel against the tunnel wall. No, not again… You will not, you cannot—

_Be prepared. When the fires come for you, little moth, when the fires you were drawn to in haste and heroics come to destroy you, be prepared._

She punched again, and a voice, loud and rich, hailing from one of the forks called out her name. Ganondorf…?

_Heroes. They exist? True heroes…? How can you think they exist when selflessness is a façade, an illusion, a trick of the mind meant to appease the brainless sheep that follow the strong and trample upon the weak? How… how, may I ask again?_

"You may not," Zelda snarled. "That's the way things are."

_So if that's the way things are… Why would you fight it? Why would Snake put himself on Death's doorstep to fight a force he can't win against…? Why would Ribbon and Lucario both drive themselves to tears fighting the very thing you can't see, but can feel all the same?_

"Because it's the only hope we have! When you hit rock-bottom, there's nowhere else to go but up…!"

_But, _and now the whisper, the unseen force that cooed in her ears, lowered its chords another few notches and said, _but don't you know a lost cause when you see one…? This pit is too deep for even you._

She was panting fast now, heart pumping, hoses of blood arcing through her body and sending chills down her spine. "We keep trying, we keep trying to get out. That's what you're supposed to do…"

_Give up, _the voice growled, and Zelda's own voice failed. _Give up, there's no hope, you and your friends are nothing. Give up, give up, give up…!_

She let out one yell, one word. "No!"

The words at the end of the being's sentence faded, a ghastly echo that stretched onto infinity, into the vast reaches of the unknown frontier that met her eyes in night and silence. _Give up… give… give… up…_

Zelda was aware of her surroundings now: she was kneeling in front of the wall, worshipping the deity that lie within, hands on her knees, gauntlet cold and unfeeling on her stump of an arm. Her face was wet, or maybe that was just her perspiration, leaking through her mask—

"You look troubled, Zelda."

Without looking up at Ganondorf, she bellowed, "Yes, Ganon. It's because I am, I just heard Zero talking to me, and… and I think they're in trouble."

"Zero, here." Ganondorf shook his head, faster and faster, all while mumbling, "I told you I would hold no blame. If I lead you to your death, it would be by chance or a preordained fate I cannot control. Perhaps I wanted to aid you, and aid myself. Zero's death marks the day my inversion will end."

"Better for you that he dies, shrivels to nothing, then…?"

"Yes."

Ganondorf extended a thick arm, and Zelda eased her hand into his. She pulled herself onto her feet, brushing her boots and robe off, staring hard at the ground.

As soon as she did, another knife stabbed through her skull, between her eyes and on the bridge of her nose. _Fine. More power for me. If pain is something you would like to embrace, fine, fine. You are your own person, your own will and earthly desire. Only through Dark Matter can I influence you. Well, even then, strong people can resist. You've seen Snake, Ganondorf, fighting against it, destroying themselves on the insides. Fine, fine. If you desire nothing else—_

"Shut up!" Zelda was yelling her throat raw. She hollered, "Shut up, shut up, no one needs to hear it…!"

Her head conked against the wall, and she stood there, half bent-over, shaking all over, chest pounding. Fire lit up her palm as she rasped, "If you know everything, then why bother…? There's enough suffering in this world without you…"

_Not enough for me. _The voice paused. _Well, good-bye. I have other things to attend to. Regeneration, especially. But it won't take too long, not when people like you are here._

She found herself again, still leaning against the tunnel.

Slowly, she turned her head to look at Ganondorf. His eyes were narrowed slightly, the irises there pulsating in every color of the spectrum, sometimes settling longer on red, sometimes on their normal color. If she watched for a while, his skin would pulse… green, then gray…

After a long moment, she heard herself saying, "We should keep going."

They rounded a corner, Zelda's head still pounding, when Kirby glanced around, once twice. His sword in hand, he plodded forward, easing himself over puddles and under more torches.

He rammed into something, and Zelda froze in place.

It was Ribbon.

Kirby staggered backwards, as did Ribbon. They watched each other for a few seconds, Kirby's mouth hanging open, and Ribbon… Ribbon began to cry.

She flew past Kirby, into Zelda's arms, just as three more shaded shapes on wary feet rounded the corner in front of them.

Zelda muttered, "Ribbon, Ribbon. What's happened…?"

Ribbon buried her face in Zelda's chest and would not say anything. She shook her head, and the darkness in Zelda's chest closed even tighter, until she was suffocating with her own breath, drowning in her own saliva. The tunnel seemed to narrow further, until it was like looking through a peephole…

Lucario and a younger… girl stumbled forward, both looking down. Snake was held between them by his arms, head lolled to the side, puffy eyes closed shut. Blood dribbled down his chin and from a cut in his head, but there was white, white against the black of his suit that was stained red around the chest, his left shoulder, and that was off-putting…

She came closer, gently grasped Snake's chin and angled it up. His mouth drooped open slightly, and a bubbled of spit tainted a deep crimson popped out…

Zelda extended an arm, felt for a pulse. She found none.

Zelda closed her eyes with her hand still against his warm, soaked chest, heal, heal, I won't let you… You told me you'd try, you told Lucario you'd try, please—

Zero's voice came into focus again, until it was like she was staring him down, eyeing him in front of her as he said words to her, laughed in her face. _It's not worth it. Everything. Stop trying, will you? It makes my eye hurt. It makes you hurt, actually, and that just makes me feel more powerful. Actually, suffer all you want. I can help._

She shook her head, and pain zapped her arm through. The metal fingers settling there clenched on their own, and the tips of her fingers scraped into Snake's chest, cutting through his suit, his bandages.

When she drew her arm away, the claws there were red. Snake's breath was soft now, but his pulse… It was still, almost like he didn't have one, and his mouth was blue.

The girl at his side wiped the sweat off her head. "Hi. Are you Zelda?"

Zelda nodded, still staring at Snake's face. Words would not form, her lips would not move—

"My name's Adeleine, but you can call me Addie. It's what most everyone calls me, anyway." She did a slight incline of her head, a bow.

Zelda nodded again, but she still couldn't say anything—

Addie brushed her hair with her free hand. "Uhm, sorry I couldn't help. I, ah, yeah…" Her words faded out.

Together, Adeleine and Lucario bent down, settled Snake on the floor and leaned his back against the wall. His head slouched forward, neck listless.

"Can you heal him?" Addie asked after a moment. "I mean, you look like a sorceress type of person. Maybe you could, ah, heal him, y'know, like I said earlier…?"

"I tried already. It didn't work…"

"I mean the wound itself, not the possession…"

Zelda glanced at her. "What?"

Addie crossed her arms, but it was as if she was cold, freezing in the raging gale and falling sheets of snow. "Well, his… inversion, I think you guys call it, is really a case of being possessed by a little bit of Dark Matter. That swordsman guy with Zero? I think you should call him Matt instead. Prevents any confusion with the two."

Zelda placed a hand against her forehead, aware of the tremors rippling through her arms and legs. "Okay. Yeah."

Lucario grunted, and maybe he meant to say something. But he just grunted, put a paw up against the wall and stared up at the dripping ceiling, at the walls in total silence.

Ganondorf looked out over the group, all of them with their heads low, all quiet and saying nothing any anyone, flinching at shadows and turning away from the body that lay slumped at their feet. Snake's shuttered breathing breezed through the halls, his rasping, wordless whispers somehow louder than everything that surrounded them. It cut through the air, scorched their bones, and Zelda felt another shiver, there, down her spine, tickling and stroking her limbs—

Lucario closed his eyes, but just as quickly opened them again. "There's a path somewhere… Farther down this way. It leads somewhere—"

"As do all paths," said Ganondorf quietly.

The Pokémon glanced at him, watched Ganon's eyes for anything flickering, dancing red in them. He saw none; turned his head away. "Like I was saying, the path… leads somewhere I can't trace. Something's blocking me out, but it's… not… hostile… Just strange. Maybe a bit… sad."

"And is your word worth what you value it at…?"

"If you do not think so," Lucario grumbled, no doubt strangling Zelda in his mind, no doubt cursing her name and haunting her, but he was still, arms lifeless, "then you don't have to listen. But, we are a _team, aren't we…?_"

No one had anything to say.

Kirby watched all of them, saw Adeleine, opened his mouth to give a greeting. He walked forward, plodding over puddles and rocks, but stopped suddenly. He gave a shake of his head, small, like he wasn't moving, but Addie saw it, and her wide face became a mask, tight and cold.

"I would listen to your teammates, if I were you."

There was a collective breath, Zelda whirled around with her hand already encased in flaming armor, Ganondorf bared his fists and Kirby raised his sword, the stinging point catching the light, shining a beam upon Dark Matter's one green eye, his sapphire-studded necklace, his billowing cape that trailed behind him, a shadow of cloth.

"But why would you listen to me, if I am your opposition…?" Dark Matter mused to himself, swaying to the side while pulling out his own sword, pointing his at Kirby, two swordsmen aiming at each other. "I am here to fight, to follow Zero. And you… You are the enemy."

Then he sighed, as if acting on stage, squinting against the bright lights above. "I have had no orders yet. My lord is recovering. But I? I'm… wandering about. Finding something entertaining to do…"

Kirby held his ground, narrowed his eyes. He saw it in his head now… Heavy Lobster, shrieking in pain from the sword wound he, Kirby, had inflicted back then. The screech of the tank had rent the air, pockmarking its passage with vibrating noise… How… That felt really, really good, cutting that metal like that. He had been pining for something to do, to get his… anxiety… out. And Heavy Lobster was just in the wrong place at the wrong time…!

So it would feel the same if he did that now, to Dark Matter. Because… because, Dark Matter, Matt, deserved it!

Ganondorf was at Kirby's right, with knuckles facing outwards, tendrils of purple smoke dusting, whirling about him as if he were the eye of a storm, a rampant tempest of gloomy, muted darkness. They met each other's eyes, looking upon the other for that brief second…

Did he see it? Because Kirby had felt his face grow warm in… anticipation, had almost felt the gleam in his own eyes as his sword trembled in his hands, ready for action… Ribbon and Zelda were behind them, and Lucario was there too, no doubt standing over Snake and growling… But Kirby, he, was up front, ready to take down Dark Matter with his very own weapon…! What an honor!

But Ganondorf merely shook his head, tightened his hand and stepped forward, in front of Matt's sword. He pushed Kirby out of the way and said, "These people were my enemy once. I can no longer call them that with as much conviction. Zero, however, is another matter…"

"Is he? The Dark Matter inside you, inside Snake, has something else to say about that. You are allied to him, his cause, because of Dark Matter. It gives you truth, purpose, when your old one was destroyed, burned to the ground. How can you argue with that?"

"Yours is a purpose I do not agree with."

"You…? You don't agree? King of the Gerudo, bringer of the sandstorms that plagued the world and suffocated everything in sight, plunged Hyrule into twilight with your lust for power, so that her people would never see the sunrise again…?"

He shook his head, fire-scorched hair and eyebrows standing out in his darkened skin. "I am changed."

"Are you? Well," and now Matt leveled his sword, dropping the temperature around him, a cloud of mist turning and wobbling around him, "we shall see. You say you are… friends with these people, your brothers-in-arms, and sisters, even. Prove it. I want you to prove it."

"How, may I ask…?"

"Obvious, is it not…?" The eyehole of Matt's mask narrowed as he swung his sword about briskly, gesturing at the walls around, the dust gathered at their feet from its silent fall, and at the people at his back. "Fight me. Prove your loyalty…!"

And Matt charged, lashing forward and scraping across Ganondorf's arm in one tepid, whirling motion. As Ganondorf punched forward Matt shifted to the side, just enough so the punch, surrounded in a globe of violet incandescence, just barely missed his one eye. He swung again, and Ganondorf blocked with his gauntlet. The sword slashed into the wall, pebbles and shining, subterranean crystals falling about it.

For one moment, one second, Ganon glanced back. He nodded at Kirby, gesturing at Lucario, mouthing something.

Then Matt hissed like a cat, said, "Keep your eyes on the battle," and swung again, followed this up with a stab, a flick of a nonexistent wrist. The warlock turned back, dodged and jabbed at Matt with his own hand, but not before Kirby saw his face…

The face… with that one eye flashing between yellow, and red…

Kirby shook his head, and shook it, really…? Did Ganondorf really… mean that…?

He turned to Lucario, nodded, and Lucario didn't say anything back, didn't look at Ganon's fight, didn't flinch with the sounds of crashing metal, toppling rocks and dutifully falling dust like rain… He just stormed down the passage ahead, ducking under a torch, once again not looking back—

Adeleine, about to say something, was pulled along with Kirby as they followed after Lucario. Zelda bent over, slung Snake's arm over her shoulder, and stumbled along, glancing back once, twice, hearing the clashing of metal and rock, the yells and whistles of disturbed air.

Ribbon yelled, "We can't leave him here…! We… We can't! It would be mean to—"

"He wanted to! He knows the cost…!" Zelda walked forward a few steps, grunting under her breath as she dragged Snake alongside her, and Ribbon rushed forward, held her Crystal in one hand and tugged at the hood of Zelda's robe.

She whirled around, and her one visible eye not underneath her mask twitched, opened wide. "He's buying us time so we can get Snake to safety. Alright…?"

Ribbon backed off. "Okay, but—"

"We have to keep up. Come on!" Zelda ran forward, straining and stiffening her legs as she supported Snake, who was still limp, out cold—

Far along, they could hear the shuffling, watery pounding of feet, paws ahead of them. So that was Kirby, and Addie, and Lucario…

And behind them, there was a building growl, a rumble of more feet tearing the floor… Matt had summoned more soldiers, reinforcements that clanged and shook the crypt around them as Ganon's cries were drowned out—

Ribbon choked as she flew forward, unable to feel her arms, the warmth of her Crystal, which was shaking wildly—

Zelda turned a corner and Ribbon followed, walls blurring into a single sheet of dark purple radiance, lit by torches that seemed to get brighter as her wings pounded, propelling her through the hollow, pounded shaft—

She barely noticed when Zelda turned the next corner, and then the next, until the way back was lost in the darkness completely, and the sound of pounding feet, clanging steel and howling, unearthly cries that hailed from Matt, his soldiers, and Ganondorf were gone, too… Ribbon could just barely see the light around them turning into a sky-blue, crystal-clear essence only made brighter, bluer by the torches turning to cobalt flames. The purple of the catacombs behind them was the last to go, and then they were hurtling through another set of oaken doors that smelled distinct, their old, desiccated odor catching in Ribbon's nose…

Gasping, the two of them hurtled into Lucario and company in front, and all of them staggered into the room that suddenly widened before them. They fell onto a long carpet that stretched to the end of the hall, a ripped, set line of fabric scintillating under the torches strewn about, but there was more to the light than just the fires that blazed…

And there were orbs that flickered before them, orbs with edges that seemed to dissolve into the shadows of the cerulean-stained chamber that housed them, orbs with centers that shone midnight black, riddled with holes that might have been stars.

Kirby recovered, got back onto his feet and stumbled to one. He reached a hand out, and immediately pulled back. The orb was glowing, glowing and bathed in a luminescent aura that bathed his pink head in light like the waves of a foreign ocean, cold and bone-chillingly blue…

The glow disappeared.

Lucario brushed off his legs and stood at Kirby's side, narrowed his eyes at the pale sphere that hung level to his face. "This isn't hostile. Or living. In fact, none of these are."

He looked all about the room, his gaze met by those same orbs, some varying in size and looking more like ovals than spheres, those circular shapes.

Something at the back held his eyes there for a moment longer, and his eyelids flew open.

He walked forward, edging between glowing shapes varying in roundness, in size, in the way they shined like blue suns. The others trailed behind him and copied the Pokémon's steps, but Ribbon…

Ribbon hung back, holding on to her Crystal like a blanket, something concrete to grasp when the weather outside was harsh, when the shadows seemed longer, ghastly and more like black skeletons… What was this room… Why… Why was this here…?

Yelling came from behind them, a yelling noise in a duet with rhythmic stomping, sounds of clanking armor and hisses that came from every angle, but that was only because of the echo… The steps drew closer to the door, and the sounds grew louder, but there wasn't a single sign of Ganondorf among those loud, howling murmurs…

Ribbon flew at the doors and slammed one shut… She could see the faceless visor of a Dark Matter soldier just behind it before she closed the door in his face, but he was squeezing through the gap between the first and second door; the second door was still ajar—

And Adeleine turned, gave a yell, and waved her brush. It was a graze, and the soldier staggered back with a scratch in his armor that only penetrated the paint, dulled the coloring, but he was staggering back, snarling—

Adeleine gave another yell, rushed forward and slammed the second door shut. There was no more snarling after that.

The painter wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Well. This is a bit of a pickle, if you know what I mean."

Ribbon's reply came quietly. "Isn't this a dead end…?"

"Huh, well… It feels like it," said Adeleine as she laughed at the door, laughed and didn't make eye contact. "It's been fun, hasn't it?"

"No," Ribbon said flatly. "It hasn't."

"That was a joke," Adeleine grumbled, frowning as she leaned against the door still, painting something over the space between the two slabs of wood, no doubt some sort of charm to keep their enemies at bay. "But even by my standards it wasn't very funny."

"Then why'd you say it?"

"Dunno. Ice-breaker, maybe…?"

Ribbon looked back into the room, still glowing from the warmth, the light of those ethereal orbs. Zelda was there, still supporting Snake as she stared into a sphere, the same sphere that had caught Lucario's eye.

But, Lucario was gone… So was Kirby… Where were they…?

Then suddenly, Dark Matter, Matt, burst into being and faced the side wall, floating in the middle of the room between the entrance and the back of the room, and muttered, "I forgot this even existed…"

"Ribbon," Zelda screeched from the other end of the hall, "get over here!"

Matt whirled to the door, saw Addie and Ribbon, and raised his sword at them—

A fireball exploded at his back, and Matt stumbled as he was engulfed by red flames, lowered his sword for a split second, a mere fraction of a lapsing moment, and in that moment Ribbon met Adeleine's eyes, sparking up suddenly…

Then they were moving forward, away from the door and towards Zelda, forking to both sides of Matt as he shook his dark, ruffled mane, jangled his necklace and held his sword out in front of him—

When he looked up again, when the stars had cleared and the smoke wafted away from his cape, he swung forward towards the double doors. He cut thin air, cut nothing.

Matt turned around, saw Zelda take Ribbon's hand in a flurry, saw Ribbon take Addie's… Addie rushed forward at the orb at the back, the one that had attracted Lucario, now shining with colors that weren't just shades of blue, sapphire, cobalt, cerulean; they were green, some black, and blue, sure, but it wasn't just one color… She prodded it with her paintbrush…

And the four of them— Zelda, Ribbon, Adeleine, and Snake— were gone.

Matt rushed to where they had stood, where they had existed, walked in shadows and light a moment before, before they had disappeared. He swung around, eye whipping and leaving a glowing emerald trail behind.

They were gone. Without a sign.

Matt breathed loud and lowered his blade. He teleported, melting into the shadows, moving back to his troops, back to Zero.

XxX

Zelda's feet met cold, sopping grass. Grass, of all things. It wasn't waist-high and lifeless, devoid of color… This grass was green, green and springing up around the tree trunks and ferns that dotted the ground, poked above spots of dirt, remained healthy underneath the sun and rain, the gaze of the gentle rolling clouds above…

She glanced up, saw those clouds, those moving sheets of puffy whiteness, the pale banks of condensed drops flying by, occasionally covering the glare of the yellow sun shining its beams to land in dappled spots on the forest floor.

Oh, the sun. By Farore's wind, that felt nice… So warm…

Adeleine appeared next to her, still holding her paintbrush out as if still touching that orb of light, reaching for somewhere else… She unfroze, surveyed the world around her and squinting against the afternoon glare. "So, I hope this is somewhere safe…"

"Lucario said it was."

"And do you trust him…?"

"I guess." And Zelda felt the words out of her mouth before she could stop them. She rubbed her nose, felt her hand shake. "I should trust him more, but…"

"He said you guys are a team," Adeleine said, tilting her head as Ribbon materialized at her side, clenching the Crystal as if her life depended on it, as if letting go meant the end of everything, and maybe it would…

Zelda moved her hand to rub her forehead, scratched the skin underneath her mask that she could reach. "We are."

"Oh," Addie replied. She waved her paintbrush about, fingers acting on their own. "Alright. Because sometimes you guys don't have the best… group vibe—"

"Yeah, I know," interrupted Zelda. She bent down, laid Snake against a tree and straightened, all while stretching, feeling the joints opening and cracking as her arms extended skyward. "You need not tell me twice…"

She expected something in her head, expected Zero to yell her down, say that she was a fool, an imbecile for believing teamwork existed, for believing there was a kindred spirit in Lucario and Din knows what else… But Zero was silent. His whispers, toneless murmurs were nonexistent.

Zelda eyed a gap in the trees that beckoned them closer. Fresh footsteps appeared there, leading into the forest, through the verdant leaves and ferns of green and the brown trunks reaching towards the heavens. If Ganondorf was here to see this…

Ribbon looked around, eyes wide, lips quivering. "Zelda, do you know where we are…? I mean, everything here looks nice, but…"

"I do." Zelda's heart was pounding, and it would be a miracle if Ribbon and Adeleine couldn't see it through her robe. Her breath was shaky, and her arms were trembling. The pads of her left fingers were shuddering, as if remembering the tension of harp strings, the vibration as their sound passed in waves. "But I don't know if everything here is still, well, intact…"

She saw it: the fire, eating everything, devouring all in its path and bulldozing whatever got in its way… Trees, branches, wood, metal, cloth… She felt the heat, the warmth all around her as it spiraled to the sky in swirling coils bathed in smoke, as it choked the air, rendering it lifeless and devoid of energy…

_I am here for the Star Warrior! Stand down, little moths…!_

Why were the trees green, then…? Shouldn't they be blackened with soot, the bark all over them no longer resembling bark…? As a matter of fact, the grass shouldn't be green either… So…

Zelda swallowed and said, "Ribbon, can you stay behind…? Just in case, you know…"

She nodded, and her bow bobbed in agreement. "Okay."

Adeleine sidled up to Zelda and stepped onto the path, settling her feet down into the footprints already embedded in the dirt… There were pawprints, and wide almond-shaped prints leading onwards through the woods mottled green, yellow and white. So, Lucario and Kirby had already been through here…

Swallowing down the saliva that swam in her mouth, Zelda followed the painter girl's receding shape as they lunged into the thicket.

XxX


	17. Eidolon

XxX

_Eidolon_

Ribbon stared at the trees circling her as they speared the clouds, now coming lower, closer to the dew-laden grass and leaves. There was a fog, a pall hanging over the sun, and as she watched, the sun was covered in fast flows of this mist, until even the space around her, the gaps between the trees faded into obscurity… But this obscurity was… nice, it seemed. It wasn't all dark and red like Ripple Star had been, with its bloodstained atmosphere, and Nova knows what Dark Star looked like to Zelda, to Kirby and Snake—

She felt herself flinch, glance down for that brief second where Snake still lay, unconscious—

Was… was he dead…?

No, don't check right now, you'll just jinx everything… Just wait until the others come back—

_You're useless._

But it was herself speaking that, not Zero, because Zero's voice, his words coated in venom disguised as honey filed in one line that trickled straight into her brain, was gone, and she could only hear her own thoughts now… The buzzing that filled the gaps in her mind on Ripple Star were gone, too, and the fog surrounding her made everything feel cleaner, even though it was choking the sun, scattering drops against her eyelashes.

I'm not useless. I'm not.

I saved myself. And if I can save myself, I can help the others. No, I'm not useless…

Ribbon flew back and forth, repeating this mantra to herself in her own thoughts: I'm not useless, not useless… And maybe the Queen wouldn't have liked how negative I'm being… So I'm not useless, and if I think I'm useless I won't be of any help to anyone else. So, I'm not useless.

We're out of Ripple Star, away from Matt and Zero for now, as far away as possible, I hope. And that's fine. It's not hopeless.

I'm not useless, and it's not hopeless for anyone…

Nodding to herself, Ribbon settled down and sat next to Snake's prone body, wings falling still, resting. She put the Crystal between herself and his arm, and the glow from it resembled the glow of a hearth, shining with coals still blazing bright from some distant fiery furnace… As she watched the glow, squinted against the Crystal's blue iridescence, she saw Snake tremble a fraction, exhale shallowly through his nose, and fall into a shaky sleep once again.

He was alive.

But, not to be pessimistic or anything… Why?

Ribbon told herself, mumbled in her own mind: His injuries were fatal. The stab to his stomach, then to his chest… He should be dead. First, he should be dead back home, and now, after Zero and stuff… And the wounds before those, long before she had met him. She was sure, sure as the heart still beating in her chest, that any wounds he received earlier would have killed him, again. So, then…

Why…?

Why was he alive, really? For a purpose? He's always been so into fighting on our behalf, but maybe… Maybe that's because he's lived that way for his whole life, up until his "dying day"…? Or… Or maybe he can't actually, physically die, because there's something somewhere stopping him…

She shook her head. Ask him later. Don't worry about this now.

"Where are the others…?"

Ribbon jolted, felt her body rise an inch off the forest grass. "Snake, you need to stop scaring me like that, speaking up so suddenly."

"It's not my fault you were spacing out." He was fully awake now, wincing and biting his tongue as fresh blood bloomed over his bandages. He sat up, coughing, grasping his side with one trembling hand. "Where… where are they…?"

"They went off to explore… We're not on Ripple Star anymore. And this place feels different, too. It's not so angry anymore, or… mean and oppressive. Maybe…"

"A bit sad?"

"Yes. That's what I was thinking." Ribbon glanced at Snake briefly, very aware of the space between them only separated by the Crystal, the light emanating from it still glaringly bright. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. "How did you know…?"

"Just a hunch. Place looks familiar, too…"

"You've been here before…?"

"Maybe." If he wanted to say anything else he didn't elaborate, didn't add on.

She fiddled with the sleeves of her dress, rubbing the sides of her arms and staring at the tips of grass that poked from underneath her feet. "Um, Snake, sorry to bother you, but I have a question…"

"What?"

Ribbon felt her cheeks grow warm. Why, of all things, was she embarrassed to ask this old man a question…? He wasn't going to murder her in her sleep; they were teammates, comrades…

And neither of his eyes was red, and the gray in his skin seemed to have returned to its normal tan color, so that was a good sign…

Right?

But even then, Snake was a strong person, so he wouldn't murder Ribbon in his sleep even under that possession of his.

"Ribbon, I don't have all day. What is it?"

"Um, yes, you do. You have to rest so you don't die, you know…"

"So ask."

"Well… What's your real name…?"

Snake met her eyes and would not draw away. He sat up a little straighter and said, "So that's the most interesting thing on your mind, huh?"

Ribbon said, "Yeah. It is. Because I just wanted to get to know you a little better. I mean, I know Kirby pretty well, and Zelda and I are getting along… Lucario scares me, though."

"Why?"

"It's because, well, he's just so angry and paranoid and other things besides… I don't see why he has to be so rude to everyone, so harsh."

"That's just the way he is," Snake shrugged.

"Even so," interjected Ribbon, "can't he change to be nicer to people…? Maybe, adapt to a group setting with other… um, functioning human beings? If he treated other people nicely, then wouldn't things go his way more often…?"

"Don't ask me," Snake grunted. "I'm not him. The things people see can change them. I thought you would've gotten that by now."

Ribbon couldn't conjure up a reply. That… Well, that was kind of true. Maybe. "But you're a lot nicer than him, I think."

"I haven't gotten much chance to show it, if that's what you think that is."

"Yes!" Ribbon exclaimed, jostling the Crystal that lay nestled between them. "Wait, but… you're always a bit reckless, going off like that. Seriously. If you want to get hurt on purpose, you're headed in the right direction…"

He laughed, but that laugh sounded watery. "You think?"

"Yeah. But, I think you look out for us. Well, try to, as well as anyone could with Zero coming after him. It's hard to do, I bet. Trying to help others with so much weight on your shoulders… And people may not even realize you're trying to help, you know…? Always so blissfully ignorant. Wish I was like that, so I wouldn't have anything to cry about."

Snake nodded but didn't say anything in reply to that. Had she hit a nerve? A shiver traced down her spine, a trail of animated icicles spearing into the bones in her back. Was that really it, then? Did he trust them at all? Did he still think them useless, hopeless, untrustworthy? Did he think himself that: untrustworthy and unable to face the others in a truthful light? Did he think of them as ignorant? Why was she asking so many questions? Jeez…

Ribbon sighed, and Snake said, "What was that for?"

"Nothing. Well, not nothing," she added with a snort, a snort that clouded the already clouded air in front of her face, "but something. A lot of things, mostly. Depressing things. I think I'm getting too much like Zero. Too sad and lonely. That's what I have other people for: to not be sad and lonely. But it still makes me sad, sometimes."

"Yeah." Snake leaned his head against the tree, angling his blue eyes up to the matching sky. "I get you."

Both of them were quiet.

Ribbon pulled at the grass at her feet, throwing their cut blades this way and that. If Snake noticed, he didn't say anything.

What was he thinking about now…? Well, if he was thinking about anything at all, what kind of things would those be…? Big, scary, mature-adult things? Or, would he be thinking about the future, which kinda fell under the same category of adult things, but would he be worrying? Would he be assuring himself, telling even himself, even a man scarred by war since day one, that things would turn out fine?

Was that the kind of person he was…?

"Do you still wanna know?"

"Um, if you mean your real name, then… yeah, I do."

He sat for a moment, listening to the silence, the thickness, it seemed, of the rolling fog, congealing as the moments passed by, as the frozen bitter wind carried it away, squealing and whistling through the leaves. The sun no longer looked orange, just this white orb that hung suspended above the misted clouds, that shone yet held no warmth for those below it.

"Yeah, I can tell you."

"So… um, you can go ahead, y'know. Any time, now…"

He looked away for an instant, no doubt staring into the woods, at the darkness that lay between the towering shafts of those trees. Ribbon felt the sudden urge to scratch the top of her head through her hair, even though the ribbon was there and it would've gotten in the way. Really, though… What was it…? What was he thinking about?

He told her. One word, just his first name.

"You ought to have a last name too, you know." Ribbon said, "It would be more… natural for you, I guess…?"

"I don't. That enough?"

"But, weren't you born with a last name? Your parents should have given you their same surname. I mean, I don't know much about… um, Earth, but I thought that's how things worked."

Snake shook his head. "They didn't."

Ribbon fluttered one of her wings, looking up at Snake's face, the face that wasn't turned to her. "Why not?"

He said, "Because they didn't. Don't think I would've kept it if they had."

"Have you told any of the others?"

"Who…?"

"Lucario, Addie, Zelda, Kirby…" She tilted her head towards the path, twisting and turning through the trees and into oblivion. "Do they know your real name?"

He shook his head. "No." Snake snorted then and murmured, voice soft, growling light, "I've known them for longer than I've known you, yet—"

"Except Addie," put in Ribbon, stumbling over her own words. "But she doesn't like you very much, because of the Dark Matter inside you." She felt herself wincing, how would he take that, another slip, another mess-up by him…? Was Addie's dislike for him his fault? "So she doesn't count."

"—yet I don't know why I told you first," Snake finished, adding a shift in his posture, cocking his brow and wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "Do you?"

Ribbon shrugged. "Nope."

Snake leaned back against the tree, breathed as deep as his chest would let him, shaking from aftershocks, bleeding red that stood out in the fog falling like heavy snow. "Tell me when they get back."

"I… I might take a nap too… I might be sleeping by the time they come back."

"Well," Snake murmured, whispering now, even though Ribbon was the only one to hear him, "we'll know when they're here."

He let his eyelids fall, let his hand lay limp, open at his side.

Ribbon stared at his face fallen stagnant, his cheekbones standing out of his flesh for a moment. Really… Who was he?

Maybe Zero would have an answer… Since he knows everything, since he knows pain inside out, since everything about the universe actually revolves around him and his stinking quest for vengeance and suffering and whatever else fallen angels can only dream about…

I'm waiting for an answer, Zero. You in there…?

Ribbon rubbed the bridge of her nose, pinched hard at the bone there. Yet Zero made no sound, would not speak out. Still. She had asked a few minutes before, and still he would not speak, and the poisoned honey that his voice had been so long ago was… an aftertaste, almost.

Was that how fancy, educated speech worked? With… what was it… personification and all that? Or a metaphor?

Ribbon laughed to herself, and the fog tickled her throat like the winter's slight breeze, laughed along with her light and airy tone. And her heartbeat slowed, and now the Crystal's warmth felt like the warmth of the sun; like those summer days back home, staring out those glass windows, eyeing the clouds as they soared by on silent wings. Here, there was fog, a fog that stifled the sun, cloaked the warmth and warbled a static melody she couldn't hear, but then again…

Zero wasn't here, or Matt. And Snake…

If Snake rested enough he'd recover fully.

Ribbon sighed, and her shoulders relaxed, fell to her sides as her eyelids did the same, as they folded in on themselves in quiet rest.

She fell asleep to the sound of rustling branches, twirling leaves dancing where they hung, and the sound of a cold day's wind overhead as it cooled the sun, carried away the last of Snake and Ribbon's heated sweat, the last echoes of Zero's voice.

XxX

She remembered this, now. The shell, the broken hinges. The fire had blown in the direction opposite of where she had arrived; that was why the forest she saw was still blatantly green, a green that blared in her face, that shone viridian in every inch of her view…

"Zelda." Lucario peeked out from behind a rotten plank, splintered where it hung from a banister. "Find anything?"

She shook her head.

_Kirby, where art thou…? I require your attention!_

Zelda's sweating hand swiped over the wall to her right, and her claws took off a layer of dust, black ash that followed her fingers to the floor.

Addie and Kirby were standing together, facing a soot-streaked column covered with tattered cloth and dusted, haloed rime. They leaned in towards each other, Addie muttering from behind a hand, Kirby standing on his toes to listen in.

Zelda ripped her gaze away from them, settling her eyes on a tapestry nearby. Scattered beams of sunlight flew through the jagged windows, settling on the individual threads there and coating the whole cloth in a shell of golden mist. Together the threads formed trees, mottled spots of puffed-up clouds that could have drifted and flown as realistically as any other, and…

And there were people, people she recognized, with their hawkish cheekbones and pointed ears… Their weapons, their clothing, all portrayed on this simple woven cloth hanging upon the wall. But the bottom of the cloth was torn with gaping wide holes, with tiny strands like colored hair sharp and pointed black at the ends. Color faded out halfway up the tapestry, and there were scorch marks higher up the piece, having burned clean through.

She flipped the bottom of the textile up, peeked at the wall behind it. More ash marks, striated like claws, lay across the bricks there.

Zelda breathed through her nose and coughed, and she stumbled back, swiping the back of her hand across her face as the ash wafted down her nostrils, clung to the sides of her windpipe.

Out of the corner of her watering eyes, Lucario turned to look and turned right back, back to looking underneath a pile of wooden rubble.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and blew air through her nose, rustling the tapestry that fell listless to lie against the wall once again.

_You want me to do this, don't you? Well, do you? I would like an answer as soon as you are capable of giving me one. I'm here for Kirby, that's all. Hmm. Well, maybe I could stay for a little longer, see how things play out…_

Zero, get out, you're gone, this is a memory—

_Fine. Fine. If that is what you so desire, then fine. I will accommodate your wishes, pathetic bugs in your fancy, pathetic mansion, upon your little high horse. Fine._

Zelda leaned over and felt the cold, the icy fingers of the burnt bricks scratching her exposed forehead, the metal of her mask. Her fist clenched, unclenched, fingers grasped at empty air that held nothing but a lingering smell of rotting wood, burning and dwindling to specks smaller than dust, than ash. And it smelled like something else, too, smelled like burning people—

She nearly threw up. Zelda clamped a hand over her mouth, aware of the bulging in her throat as her heart sped up, damn it, damn it…

Sweating, she pushed away from the wall. Was Lucario watching, just watching her like she was some sort of curious experiment, like he was a scientist observing a procedure from the sidelines, a cursed, damnable scientist that looked like a damned dog—

As she climbed the staircase next to her, the carpet under her grated with every step she took, slipped out from underneath her boots and slid on top of a fine dusted sheet of powder, powder from melted… things…

Glancing down at her feet, she saw something peeking out from underneath the unwilling carpet. It was all wood, and it looked like a handle of some kind, but it was burnt and splintered, and if she strained Zelda could hear the crack, the swish of… flames, once again…

But this was a baseball bat, wasn't it…?

She bent over, wrapped her loose fingers around it, and pulled it out from under the rug. Zelda felt her muscles tense, as if expecting resistance, expecting this wooden object to fight back, to stay rooted in the ground like a tree—

But it came out seamlessly, like she had just conjured it out of thin air. It sat in her metal palm, rolling around like it had nothing else better to do, like it was sitting aimlessly and wondering how to pass its days in a more interesting manner, and _it was a damned baseball bat—_

Only a piece of it, though… It was only the tip of the bat, the end you would hit things with… Zelda saw it in her head, saw a boy swinging the whole bat, and that was why she knew which end was which… Who had that been?

Oh, right. It had been N—

She dropped it, rubbed her palm as if affected with some sort of pain in the metal there. Zelda shook her head, walked through a door and underneath dangling beams that creaked and snapped at her as she dodged past a fluttering, blackened banner, dancing to a meaningless tune from another world.

The walls were bleached gray, doused in layer upon layer of color that wasn't there, that was invisible, nonexistent. Paint peeled from sporadic sections, fragments of the wall were pockmarked with black holes. A square hole lined with glass like jagged, ashen mountains was a window to the fog that scattered the sun, the sky's color of sapphire blue.

Zelda leaned down, angled her neck so she was looking underneath the bed. She held her breath, squinted against the spindled cobwebs and the muted white ash that sifted and stirred upon the floor underneath the mattress. There was nothing there… If you could count the burnt scraps of paper wrapped around the bedposts and the meaningless, shattered and unrecognizable pieces of clutter and junk as "nothing"…

She got back up, brushed the front of her dress. There were voices coming from the first floor below, the rustle and snap of old planks, the swirling of dust that had nowhere to go, nowhere to land.

And somewhere out the window, the ocean called, slamming up at the barricades that held them back from the land, cutting away at the face of the rock wall that would not let the waves and the sea foam go any further. A sound like slicing thunder echoed from the direction of the surf and disappeared into the stifling grayness, the thick, syrupy silence that the fog brought to the sea.

She fell back onto the bed, and the rising ash tickled the back of her neck, made the hairs on her arms stand up and brush against her robes… This had been someone's bed, but it was hard to tell now because everything of any personal value had been burnt… Maybe it had been Marth's, or Ike's, or Luigi's room or something…

The ceiling above creaked as the blood pulsed in her ears, as thick drops of water hailing from the mass of fog landed upon her face. She steadied her breathing, but she felt the tips of her ears heat up…

_Oh, I sense something different now… Everything feels a bit… unstable, and maybe someone escaped. But things still feel unbalanced… Wonder why…? Maybe it's a side effect of my arrival. But I wouldn't know, so I'll send someone to check that out… Oh, would you look at that…! Why are they getting so violent…? And their eyes are red, as well. What a surprise!_

Zelda buried her face in the sheets, the sheets that were burned to a flat, crisp edge, the sheets that were doused in piles of cinders that hadn't burned out fully—

_And look… That green elf ran off… Headed towards the source of new unbalance? Maybe it's a person. But I'm just guessing now._

No… That's Link… he'd ran off, and Zero had just hovered there, no… Zelda rolled onto her side, curled up there and grasped her face… She was sweating, and it was pooling around her on the bed, and it disgusted her, why—

Unbalance… Did… did that mean Snake…? Was Link headed towards Snake, who had come back from the dead and was somewhere in the woods… Was that it…?

Zero's voice hit her again, and the sound was a train rolling over her, the sound was a burst of thunder that cracked her ears, shattered her bones… _In the meantime, I'll have some fun. Kirby, where are you? Oh, well. I'll find him eventually. Suffering finds everyone in the end._

She stifled her choking, her speeding breaths that threw more dust into the air and into her blurred eyes. Stop, stop… Go away…

When Adeleine and Kirby ascended the stairs, whispering in hushed voices and glancing over their shoulders, they stepped through the doorway and saw Zelda lying on the bed, quiet, her body shaking in noiseless sobs as the fog wafted through the ruined mansion in silence.

XxX


	18. Fallacy

XxX

_Fallacy_

Zelda woke to feel the fogged breeze, the muddled sunlight of a misted day, the sea still roaring, still howling and clashing with the rocks somewhere close by. Her cheek was still damp, and her hands… She couldn't feel her hands, _damn it—_

She sat up, brushed the wrinkled covers underneath her so they didn't look at crinkled, so they never showed any sign of being trifled with. Both of her hands were shaking, and her metal one was tingling still, like it had fallen asleep, and her real one was shaking too, shaking so she couldn't move it without brushing up against the bed, accidentally…

She bent over where she sat, head in her hands, and breathed through her mouth. Her nose was clogged, and that was probably why she couldn't smell anything now—

Something light tapped her right leg. She looked over, eyes swimming, drowning, blurred with water.

Kirby looked back up at her, eyes shining, face open and loose like it always was. His mouth was open slightly in a round circle, as if he were about to say something to her but couldn't form words. But he couldn't, and he has to use _charcoal __to talk to people normally…_

Her head began to swim in tandem with her eyes, and she swayed to the left, away from Kirby, thank the goddesses… She was cold, colder than she had realized, but the mist felt really good, and the hairs on her arms were rising… She was shivering, but that didn't matter, not at all. And maybe Kirby and his lack of speech didn't matter as much either… But it was still cold.

Grasping her forearms, she rose onto her feet, stepped on broken glass, piles of gently flowing dust, and walked closer to the window. She breathed in, out, in, out, and gazed into the ocean that was cloaked by mist, covered in layers of vapor, but she could hear it still: roaring and howling up at the hazy sky. Kirby was at her side, and a second shape blurred and moved next to the pair of them.

"This weather is nice," the shape said. It was Adeleine. "I haven't felt something like this in forever, y'know? Not since…"

She didn't need to finish her sentence.

Zelda merely nodded, continued to stare out at the fog. She twiddled her fingers, rubbed the nape of her neck and muttered, "Do you think the others are doing okay?"  
"You mean Ribbon and Snake?"

"Yes."

"Oh," Addie said, shrugging. "Both of them'll be fine. I don't think they're in any trouble."

"Addie, you saw Snake, didn't you? His condition?"

"Well," she grunted, "he's tough, isn't he? Like, really tough? Like, so tough that I really can't come up with a good metaphor for how tough he is? That's how he looks to me… I mean, I don't know if he really is, but—"

"Yes, he is." Her hands moved to her lap, and she ducked her head as a burst of foggy air wafted through the room, blew through her hair and stung her eyes into watery submission. "But you haven't been around long enough to see it."

"Wait, with you guys and Ribbon? Or… y'know, wherever this is?"

Zelda laughed a bit, and that laugh sounded strained, wound too tight. "Both. But here, long ago? He was a demon. Brutal, merciless. You'd be lucky if he let you off covered in bruises. He had explosives too, and firearms, neither of which felt very nice. And, when Zero came along…"

Whatever she was going to say was wrestled away from her by another incoming gust, a spiral of cold air that rushed down her lungs and smothered her words. She swallowed, and the insides of her throat began to itch. She coughed, eyes suddenly keen on the open window in front of her. "Well, now he lacks firepower in any form, but that doesn't make him any less dangerous."

Adeleine muttered something under her breath, aiming her words at her feet.

Zelda said, "What?"

"I said, maybe he isn't really that scary. Maybe you just think he looks scary, or the way he walks or talks is scary, you know?"

She snorted. That wasn't very queenly, but… "On the field he's scary enough. You haven't seen him yet."

"Will I ever?"

"Maybe. Just give him a chance."

Addie watched the coalescing fog out the window, swirling and twisting. "I still don't trust him. Not because he's scary-looking or anything, but… He's possessed, still. So there you go. You wanted a reason why I don't like him."

"That isn't much of one."

The girl flopped backwards onto the bed, breathing heavily at the ceiling, at the speckled dots of sunshine landing on the floor through the decrepit roof. "Yeah, okay, sure. Whatever you think is whatever you think, Zelda, but I don't trust him. I don't trust anyone like that. He's possessed, too, like I've said about a hundred times. So I don't think you should trust him, either…"

Zelda shook her head and gripped the window frame with her metal hand. The glass underneath crunched and cracked, and she felt a dim twinge somewhere further up her arm. "I don't have much choice. Neither does he."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Addie jolt up to look at her.

Zelda continued to talk. "Who can we turn to, if we don't trust each other? Both of us have reason not to… But…"

"Pfft," Addie snorted, and she settled back down on the messed, rumpled covers. "Both of you are doing wonderful. Getting hurt and killed and stabbed and Nova knows what else. Who cares about your trust if we're all dead? Maybe I shouldn't have come."

Zelda whirled around. "Then you can back out now. In fact, I think you should. Take heart, because we won't give you another chance."

"And why not?"

"By the gods, you sound like an infant! It's because we can't stop so you can get back up on your feet. Zero won't either, and unless you want to see if he will, you shouldn't try it. We have no choice!"

"So why can't you rest? Why won't let someone else handle it?" Addie yelled at the boards in the roof, which were slowly tilting down, caving in to the sounds of creaking and stuttering wood. "You're all pushing yourselves too hard."

"Because _we have no choice!_" Zelda punched the wall next to the window and felt something break under her knuckles. "We can't wait for someone else to kill Zero because there is no one else left!"

There was silence.

After a stifling moment almost choked by the filtered fog, Addie whispered, "Has anyone told you you're scarier than Snake? Because I think you are."

Zelda shook her head, and her sodden hair followed her movements. "I'm not trying to be scary. I'm trying to tell you how it is."

"So… so how is it?"

"We've lost. Can't you see it? Zero's left this place the way it is because it has no value. There are no survivors here, no hidden relics or weapons. What he has is all he needs."

Addie replied, "Then maybe I should leave. Survive on my own, 'till you guys figure this out. I'll only get in the way."

"You'll only get in the way with that kind of attitude, yes."

The painter girl suddenly leapt to her feet, and as Zelda whirled around to face her, she saw fires blazing in Addie's wide eyes as she held her brush aloft. "I can't do anything without this paintbrush, Zelda! You have your… magic, and your claw-thing. But I mean nothing without this stupid piece of wood!"

"Do you want pity?"

"No, I don't, thank you very much," hissed Addie, "because pity won't get me anywhere…!"

"Then you and Ribbon must feel the same."

"What's that supposed to mean…?"

"It means that, instead of whining to me, you should be comforting Ribbon."

Addie stepped back, dropped her brush in the dust piles gathered upon the floor. "I guess so. Maybe… maybe if I talked to her, I'd feel better about this whole trust thing…"

"You know her well?"

She sighed. "Sorta. I mean, we kind of saved the world together, and if that isn't team-building, then I don't know what is."

Zelda nodded, and turned back to the window. The cold air, frigid fog twinkling midair met her face once again. "You mean more to others than you can ever imagine, but your life journey, I think, is a journey where you give meaning to yourself."

Addie looked up at Zelda, gazed at her turned head, the point of her ears. "Are you sure?" she asked. "That sounds neat. I'll think on that."

Zelda said, without glancing back down, replied, "Go find Lucario. Bring Kirby with you."

Their shuffling footsteps, hushed whispers followed them out the door and down the staircase.

Zelda leaned on the windowsill, careful to avoid stray glass shards and broken splinters. Fog whistled around her, and the air itself seemed to hum, flow with a charged, manic energy down to the coast below.

How many times had the owner of this room done that? Looked through the window, peered at the ocean with his, or her, hawk's eyes, watching every hill and canyon the currents made, watching the movement of floating seabirds and chunks of seaweed? Or was the owner of this bedroom the type to always keep the window closed, and settle with a protected view of the landscape, as if from a different world?

Zelda sat down on the floor, and the smell of burnt ashes made her cough. Maybe this was her room, and she had forgotten… She dragged a finger back and forth across her forehead. Her hands, twiddling, having nothing to do, dug into her satchel and pulled out the harp.

It was out of tune again.

She leaned over, slowly, carefully slid the harp underneath the bed. As she watched the harp and her hands descend into misty, musty blackness, she saw Lucario in front of her, snarling, asking her rude questions and growling at the top of his voice. _Why would you leave the harp, you ignorant dolt?_

"Well, it drags me down, I think," Zelda told herself. "I thought you'd agree."

When the Lucario in her head had no reply, Zelda straightened up, pinched her nose and pulled her fingers away. Ash coated her fingertips and smeared into the grooves of her fingerprints. She rubbed them on the wall, and there they stayed: traces of black powder that arced alongside the wall like strokes of paint.

She walked out of the room, never once looking back, feeling the raw mist pushing her away from the room, through the front doors that swayed and creaked on rusted hinges, and out into the forest beyond.

XxX

That night, the trees whistled, the fog lifted and carried away on the retreating breeze. Stars, those white dots that seemed to pierce the fabric of the darkened sky, circled the moon as dappled light landed through the canopies and blanketed the greenery with an opalescent sheen.

Addie hugged her arms, shivering, rocking back and forth, back and forth. But they wouldn't notice, because… Well, because…

They were like that, these people. Just… really quiet…

Kirby was curled in front of the fire, resembling nothing more than a pink ball lit with undertones of red and gold, with eyes and an open, slack-jawed mouth. Lucario was curled up fast asleep nearby, and Ribbon was sitting between them, eyelids heavy and drooping. Zelda was sitting against a tree, muttering under her breath to Snake, who was staring at the ground.

Addie followed his gaze with hers. What was he looking at…?

She snorted, but no one paid any attention, and no one had glanced over at what she had snorted at. Snake was looking at nothing. Absolutely nothing. And he was absolutely nothing, wasn't he? There was almost a family resemblance…

Addie gazed into the trees, scratching the sleeves of her blouse and grating the wooden handle of her paintbrush into the dirt. Stupid, stupid paintbrush. Maybe, if she threw it into the river, she'd learn to do things herself, like cast spells or use a sword or her fists or something… Then everything would be better, because then she'd have her own skill to rely on…

Snarling to herself and to the shadows that pulsed beyond the firelight, she rolled her heel over the paintbrush, felt the grinding of dirt and pebbles underneath the polished wood. Yeah, that would happen, wouldn't it…? Totally. Definitely. Because she was such a fast learner, definitely.

Addie tilted her head back against the tree trunk, made eye contact with the pale gleam of the full moon. She held her gaze, felt the warmth of the campfire clash against the cold, moonlit air that danced on her cheeks.

Her fingers reached for her paintbrush. Without thinking, mind on autopilot, Addie rubbed the hairs across her smock, once, then twice as more streaks of dirt appeared in her clothes.

In a moment, with the fire creeping upwards towards the blanket of night marked with bleached holes that stuttered and trembled, she had gotten to her feet and sidled over to Ribbon, squeezed in between her and Kirby.

"Hey, Ribbon. I just wanted to say hi."

"Yeah," replied Ribbon, hugging her Crystal as if the world around her was collapsing. "Thanks, Addie. I'm glad you're here."

Something caught in Addie's throat. What did she feel? What was she supposed to say? Why was she asking so many questions? "Okay."

There was silence between them, broken through with Lucario's droopy snores and Zelda's hushed whispers.

"Do you think it'd be better if I went out on my own again?"

Addie fought the urge to cover her mouth. She had just been thinking it: the idea had been at the back of her mind but she never wanted to say it…! Never, never, ever, especially not to Ribbon… But it had slipped out, and she couldn't really help it if her thoughts went too fast…

"No. That's the simple answer." With her thin face lit both by the Crystal and by the fires that raged in front of them, Ribbon looked pale, flushed of color. "It's been a while, Addie… Stay, please."

She swallowed something back, and Addie wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Ribbon stared into the heart of the flames, eyes dancing along to the tune of the swaying tendrils of heat. She was biting her lip, and as Addie watched, something wet slid down Ribbon's cheek and splashed onto Addie's hand.

Then suddenly Ribbon was burying her face in Addie's smock and sobbing, unaware of the dirt smudges that stood out against the green fabric, closing her eyes and crying into Addie's chest. "Sorry, Addie, sorry… Sorry, I'm really sorry…"

Addie scrunched up her face against the sound of Ribbon's tears. "Yeah, it's okay, Ribbon, it's okay…" But her heart was pounding, and her eyes were glazing over so she could barely see the fire, the top of Ribbon's pink mane of hair, she was squinting…

She dragged a finger underneath her eyes, but she couldn't move too much, not when Ribbon had to let her emotions out… It was a fragile process, this, and if Addie moved—

But she was crying now, too, until her lips were trembling, until dragging one finger across did no good, and it took a whole hand to stop the tears—

If they had to deal with Zero like this… If Ribbon had to rely on her Crystal and always felt like a burden no matter how she tried… If Zelda couldn't take a step forward without taking two steps back, and if Snake—

A lump grew in Addie's throat, and she buried her own face in Ribbon's hair, she wouldn't mind, she wouldn't mind… Snake wouldn't know she was crying about him, how pale his face had looked, how his face had scrunched up, how he had winced at shadows that had no form—

Just like her, and Dark Matter had done that, and it was all because of Dark Matter, and Zero, and all of them at once, and if they weren't around none of this would have ever happened and Ribbon wouldn't be crying—

And Addie kept crying as she blinked and squinted, hopefully in silence, hopefully the others wouldn't notice… Maybe they'd think that Addie and Ribbon were just hugging, that they were trying to comfort each other by hugging and that it wasn't a problem—

"Sorry, Addie," Ribbon muttered, tears in her voice.

"Stop apologizing," Addie murmured back, dragging her palm over her forehead, over her eyes so forcefully that it hurt. "You don't have to be sorry."

"I do," choked Ribbon, "because if I didn't cry then I'd get things done and I wouldn't be such a burden, and I'd be able to save people and not get them killed and not have to leave them behind—"

"Ribbon, no one's died yet, we don't know where Ganon is, he's probably fine—"

She nodded, rubbed her eyes with both knuckles. "Yeah. Okay. Okay." Ribbon breathed through her nose, hugged her Crystal even tighter. "I want to help, I want to help. Do you think I should learn?"

"Everyone can learn. Me, you, Kirby…"

"So should I?"

"Yes, Ribbon. If you want to help, yes."

Ribbon breathed through her nose, drawing mucus in. "Addie, I just feel horrible, I've done nothing and it's all this Crystal, I'm good for nothing but to carry this around and I feel horrible, and what if I lose it? Then what?"

"You're not the only one," Addie said. "That makes two of us."

"So I can't do anything," and now Ribbon's voice was rising, even as she sniffled some more, "and people think I'm useless, and maybe they're right!"

"We've made friends with each other, Ribbon. That's something, isn't it?"

Ribbon froze. She blinked rapidly, rubbing her eyes.

"Ribbon, we have each other. Maybe not the others, if you don't trust them. But we have each other—"

"Yeah…"

"—and if we have each other, there's still something left to look for. And no matter how many times things try to get in the way, we'll keep going, because all that we need is between the two of us."

Ribbon nodded.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be a good therapist, Addie."

Addie whirled around, saw Snake looking at her with a stony face, cheeks gaunt, mouth set. His eyes gleamed in the border of the campfire, and his bandages were covered in blood that resembled liquid rust. "Is that a problem?"

"Nope. Just saying."

"Where did Zelda go?"

Snake tossed his head in the general direction of the Mansion. "That way. Said she heard something, and she wanted to check it out. She didn't want me to follow her."

"For obvious reasons," grumbled Addie.

Snake glanced at her again. "I guess that meant you, too."

Their eyes met, and in that moment Addie felt like punching him. Maybe that was normal with her now, but since when was anything ever normal in her life…

With a subtle shake of her hair, a twitch of one eyebrow, Addie turned away and wrapped both arms around Ribbon. They gazed into the fireplace in silence. Kirby was snoring now, too, snoring in tandem with Lucario and frozen in place as drowsy breaths shook him.

Addie closed her eyes and fell asleep soon after.

XxX

The trees shook around Zelda, seemed to bend and curve as she passed between their trunks. The upper boughs that filtered the moon whistled and creaked, wind whipping amidst the leaves, amidst Zelda's hair. Gods, it was a mess…

She stepped over a twig with silent feet, walked past the final line of trees and into the courtyard. Flags still wavered on their burnt, twisted poles, and the cobblestones that littered the ground were dusted with ash and what looked like rust… It couldn't have been rust…

_Have you all ever seen so much blood at once? I wonder…_

Zelda shook her head, no, not now…

The sound came from directly in front of her, behind one of the toppled marble columns, partially obscured by a fluttering banner bearing some kind of emblem. But, the emblem was faded now, worn out and blackened; she couldn't see what it was—

There. The sound echoed forth again, and it was like hearing a whistle down a long tunnel… A wisp of wind followed the whistle, like a train roaring through, and there was another swish of something that sounded like fabric—

And the thing making the noise peeked out from behind the waving flag, and its single green eye stared out into the darkness, rivaling the glow of fire, the radiance that spread from the blinding moon overhead—

It had a sword, and the sword was lit, too, coated in silver light and reflecting a rainbow of violets and purples. The cloak it had upon its back flew this way and that, buffeted by the breeze that was turning into a gale, a storm of wind that ripped leaves from their branches…

Over the howl of driving gales, Dark Matter said, "Are you going to attack me? I am your enemy, after all."

XxX


	19. Mistral

XxX

_Mistral_

Zelda's hand went to her sword. She drew it without preamble, walked forward and around the column. "I know you're my enemy. Why are you here?"

"So, you aren't going to wonder if I'm here with an entire army, or if I just came on my own? It's always the 'why' with you people first. But I guess that's fine, to be honest. So, to answer your question," Matt replied waving his sword as if striking an eloquent, lengthy conversation with people of status, "I'm here on my own. No orders from the higher-uppers, nothing. And I have no urge to report to Zero. Rest your concerns, for now. You'll need them for later."

"And how did you get here?"

"Need I tell you everything?" Matt's eye widened, as if on the brink of an epiphany. "And you should be running me through as I speak. Or did you forget how to wield a sword? You wouldn't want that, not in the middle of a fight."

Zelda said, "There's enough blood on the ground to last a lifetime."

"Ah, the answer I expected… Crisp, to the point, and unbearably cliché."

"Are you trying to be casual, trying to make small talk?" asked Zelda. "It doesn't fit you, I'm afraid."

The moon danced with Matt as he swayed on the spot, still waving his blade through the air as light twirled in curls every which way around him. "It doesn't fit? Well, then, moving on. To business."

"And what is your business?"

"Well, here. Let's see. You have a traitor in your midst."

Zelda snorted and tightened her grip on her sword. "Really? As if I haven't figured out we're all untrustworthy animals?"

Matt shook his mane of dark hair, and when he spoke again, his voice was soft under the howls of nighttime wind that swept the leaves and dust away, leaving the stars clear like soft pinpricks of radiance through a toneless sky. "That's not what I meant. Someone will leave your group for the other side. Well, our side. But you know."

"You expect me to believe you, then? I don't. Not for now."

Matt had no reply. Then, slowly, every movement carefully paced, Matt met Zelda's eye, unblinking and unfaltering. Zelda's spine grew cold, and the cold traveled down the length of her back, slithering and trickling like glacial water. "Whatever you believe will suffice, as Lucario would say," Matt said.

She broke her gaze away and murmured, "He has never said such a thing."

"I know more than you think I do."

"Oh, you villain types," snarled Zelda. "Thinking you know everything and pretending to act surprised when your cockiness gets the better of you. How would you know what Lucario said if he wasn't with you?"

"Oh? And how do you know Lucario has been with you the whole time?"

"Because he never left…"

Now, Matt shifted his body, completely facing Zelda, the glare resting upon his necklace almost blinding. His sword dissolved, leaving his ethereal hands bare. "And now," he asked shortly, "how do you know that?"

Zelda clenched her hands at her sides, saying nothing, heart racing in her chest and straining to burst. Lucario had tried to take care of them, tried to heal them. He'd let them stay in his shelter as they recovered, and when they left—

_I'd wish you luck. But I won't… Because there isn't enough to go around._

He hadn't said that. Lucario wouldn't have said that. Never. Zelda was just imagining things, and with a good night's rest she wouldn't have doubts about any of them ever again. She was hallucinating, that's what it was, because Lucario would much rather be a team player in these sort of times… He knew that being a hermit wouldn't help.

But, but if Link could turn bad, if Link could hurt the ones he was closest to, then…

No. Lucario wouldn't.

He would, though, wouldn't he…?

_Anyone can fake tears and act sorrowful!_

And he had said that when Ribbon was crying, really crying… Her nose had gotten stuffy and the rims of her eyes had gone bloodshot, and her clothes were wet all over… And Lucario hadn't noticed, hadn't cared, acted so rashly and yelled at Ribbon for being sad, really…

Something in her face must have said something, because Matt muttered, "Now you see. Do you? And do you perhaps realize that what Zero says about people is true, all of it?"

"What does he say?"

"I do not need to tell you. You've seen much of it already."

Zelda looked off into the distance, followed the restless murmurs and rooted rumblings of the nearest tree, whose boughs arced over and sliced the airstream in twain. "Maybe he's right. But we'll keep fighting, as long as we have something to look forward to."

"But you don't." Matt began pacing where he hovered, back and forth, and if he had hands they would have been folded behind his back. "You don't have anything to look forward to, because what you see in others doesn't exist. No one's wondered why Dark Star's so dark, I assume. Dark Star in itself is a reflection of things that are and things that will be, and yet people may still ask why everything's so bleak…"

"Because we have hope, and your kind doesn't."

"Really? And what about Lucario?"

"We're free to have doubts. So I can doubt him, and he can doubt us…"

Matt grunted, "And there's the paradox of the thing. You encourage trust, you sow hope and confidence in others and in yourself, but it means nothing, because none of it exists… But you convince yourself that if you are a 'good sport', it will start to exist, but you cannot make things just… exist. No one can. False hopes… you live on them, don't you…?"

She was shaking madly. "No, we don't, they're not false."

"Really? I have my fair share of them. I know what they look like. But I am not trying for pity, nor do I want it. But your dreams? Your hopes? All fake. You should have known earlier. Then this," and Matt gestured at Zelda's chest, her heart, "wouldn't hurt so much, now."

She continued to tremble, her fists clenched tight so the fingernails on her fleshy hand dug into her skin and left gouges there… It stung, stung to hell and back, but she could barely feel it—

"Zero knows, and that's why I follow him. Maybe soon, one of you will see it, too, and then this will all come to an end—"

"Get out," Zelda shouted suddenly, "and don't come back!"

Matt froze where he hovered, looked at Zelda once again. His sword, having reappeared in his hands, gleamed cruelly. "If Zero orders me to, or if someone wishes me to come back, I will. Your command alone will not keep me away." Matt edged backwards into the woods, shaking his head once more as he turned to leave. "You have your warning. It's your choice to follow it."

"Is that why you came? To warn me?"

"Do you think," said Matt, still floating away like some phantom returning to the nether regions, "that I would not have tried to kill you by now, if I was here to do so? You are mistaken. I was never here to end your life, or anyone else's. I have free will too, then, I suppose… I know you do not trust me. I see it. But I want you to know that I had no intention of harming you tonight."

He kept going, continued to float off into the distance, the edges of his tattered cloak still hanging a ways off the ground.

Something made Zelda splutter. "Wait, Matt, I need to ask you something…"

"Hmm. I had the sense that I was unwelcome. You wanted me to leave, after all…" Nevertheless, he stopped in his tracks, faced Zelda once more. "What is it?"

Zelda hesitated, mouth moving but saying nothing. None of it was true, Snake wasn't going to die or end up fully possessed, Link wasn't going to hurt anyone again because she'd be ready next time, Ganon would be fine, Lucario wouldn't mess anything up…

Matt stared at her a moment longer, then said, "Did you forget your question?"

Zelda still could say nothing. She didn't need to ask, no… It would be… fine. "Erm, maybe…"

"Fine. I leave you with my advice, warning, whichever." Matt turned around to face the forest, swirled his cape around him. "But I am your enemy, the very one you hate, the one you must fight to finish your own journey," he mused to himself. "So why would you ever believe me…?"

The breeze whistled around them once again, and the banners that hung with nary a breath of life were now flying madly, straining against the poles that held them in place. They fluttered in the stream of relentless currents, reached out for something with estranged fingers of cloth but finding nothing. Zelda held a hand against her eyes, shielding her face, her mask as the wind raged still, tearing through the trees.

The wind died down, the torn banners fell limp again, and when Zelda removed her hand from her freezing face, Matt was gone, as if carried away by the last vestiges of that pounding gale.

XxX

Ribbon said, "That was stupid, stupid… Zelda, why'd you have to go do that alone? You scared all of us. Well, except Snake." She fluttered her wings as she flew around the dying embers of their fire. "I don't know what he thought."

Said person grunted and mumbled, "I thought you could handle yourself just fine, Zelda. I guess you did."

Zelda sat by the dying fire, rifling through the light ashes, the flecks of weightless wood that littered the dirt. "Yes, I did. Thank you for being concerned, but I am unharmed."

"Yeah, on the outside, everyone knows that," Addie butted in. "But not so much inside, right? I'm not the only one who's hurt on the inside, too, am I…?"

Zelda shook her head and glanced at Lucario. It was just a fleeting glimpse, a quick turn of the head, but her one visible eye glittered strangely, and Ribbon could relate, she'd been there several times, and it hurt, she never wanted that to happen ever again… There was a hole in her chest and it would always remain where it was, life without it was a faraway concept—

"Maybe we can discuss it in the morning…" Zelda trailed off, and again caught a glance at Lucario, still curled up fast asleep under the moon's dying glare. "We should all get some rest."

She faced Snake, whose head was drooping onto his chest, chin resting placidly on his collarbone. He was already asleep.

Addie muttered, "He didn't need to be told twice. But you might want to run that by us again, Zelda. How can we sleep, with stuff like this going on?"

Kirby watched all of them, nodding in reply to Addie's statement. He turned to Zelda, waiting with shining eyes wide.

"You'd be very, very surprised. Close your eyes; that's all it takes. And maybe you should stop pestering me with these questions."

"Oh, now I'm pestering you, right? As if I can do anything right." Addie growled, clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She said, "Maybe some people need to calm down before going to sleep, you know… And maybe those people can't fall asleep if they're too stressed out?"

Zelda merely shook her head. "Just go to bed. It's easier than you think."

"You know, I highly doubt it. If you could look inside me right now, I'd be shaking all over. Yeah, you try being a kid with one shabby weapon and only a basic moveset of rolls and dodges. I'd kill for a magic gauntlet. Or magic of any kind, for that matter."

"You don't mean that."

Addie leaned back, brushed clay-toned dirt off her bare knees. Still, some remained in the angry scratches there, and Ribbon saw Addie wince in the fading moonlight. "Maybe I do. You never know."

Zelda straightened her back, settling her unblinking gaze on Addie round face. "I don't know. I'm not you."

"I meant what I said a few hours ago."

"I thought you would feel better later."

"Well, you sure think of people highly, don't you?" Addie got to her feet, grasping her paintbrush in one shivering hand, looking at no one and nothing but the soil beneath her smudged sneakers. "'I'm not you'. Yeah, of course you're not, because obviously _you know what you're doing…!_" She stalked off, leaving deep footprints in the frozen dirt, but not before snarling, "I won't go far, but sometimes I wish I could."

She was gone then, through the trees and into the forest.

"She can go as far as she wants." Zelda watched her go in silence, then sighed. "A part of me says she doesn't have a point. I don't know what I'm doing."

She leaned her head against a tree trunk, eyes focused on the moon, mask splashed with silver light. "Ribbon, I had a dream the other night." She muttered, "I'm not sure if I want to tell anyone."

"Why'd you mention it, then?" Ribbon settled her wings, sat beside the queen.

"Because if I tell you it might change my mind," said Zelda. "I've been thinking for a while, and…"

Ribbon was aware of Kirby staring at her, looking at her face and trying to make eye contact. "Okay. So do you want to tell me?"

_And maybe I can tell you something else in return, something about Snake's real name and how no one else knows…_

Ribbon shivered suddenly, at the same time Zelda began to speak.

"Well, Zero was there, like he always was, and the floor was red, and Snake… Snake, he…" Zelda stopped abruptly, trembling all over. "Zero slammed him against a wall, and he had a knife in his other hand and—"

Zelda stopped once more, held a shaking hand against her mouth.

Ribbon felt ice-cold blood gush through her veins, and she turned away, unable to hide the frantic beating in her chest, the tingling in her fingers. "Do I want to know what comes next…?"

"Then, he moved on. He… he killed you, too, then Kirby, then Lucario, and everyone else but me—" She broke into tears, and droplets lingered on her cheeks. "I had to watch, and I remember him laughing—"

"Zelda, his laughter means nothing, he doesn't know what laughter is, it's just a sound to him—"

"—Matt was standing next to him, and, and… And then I turned around and Link was there, and his eyes were red, and, gods, he… He…—"

She could no longer go on. Zelda buried her face in her sleeve and kept silent, and Ribbon suddenly felt an aching cold pressing between her shoulder blades. She turned away as the sound of Zelda's sobs rose and carried into the woods. She didn't want to cry again, not here, not now… Ribbon could sense her lips trembling, her vision blurring with water, no, no…

"Zelda," Ribbon choked, "it was just a dream—"

"But dreams can come true, isn't that it?" She laughed through her tears, and her nose was clogged, so it didn't sound right, and none of this did, "So that means nightmares can come true, and if nightmares can come true, then…"

"I don't want to hear it," Ribbon suddenly screeched, and the sound carried over the wind, the rustle of the forest around them, "I don't want to hear that ever again, we'll make it out of this, okay…?! Don't say that again!"

Zelda straightened, wiped her eyes with her sleeve once more. "Right, right."

The forested thicket was quiet once more, save for the raspy, dry chirping of crickets and the gurgle of the river.

"Sorry," Zelda said softly. "I didn't want to upset you. I wanted to get it off my chest."

Ribbon breathed, "Yeah. It's okay. It's fine."

Zelda wiped her face, wrung her quivering fingers. "I'm worried. For us. And Zero's already won."

"He won the battle, but he didn't win the war."

"What war?" Zelda suddenly stood up, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth. "The war was over before we knew what it was. Look around you. There's nothing left, nothing worth standing up for anymore. We can't fight this."

Ribbon looked up into her eyes, lip trembling. She said, "We can."

"And why do you think so?"

"We have no other choice."

Zelda snorted, wiping the back of her neck with one hand, averting her eyes. "You've learned from me, I guess. Not to give up, not to lose hope. I'll give you that much credit. But sometimes you need restraint. This much pain feels… unnecessary."

"I know. I'm hurting, too. But that doesn't mean we have to completely give up."

Zelda tilted her head back and took in the stars, those celestial lights that shimmered in place. "I don't know, Ribbon. Maybe we should start over with this, never go back. They won't harm us here if they see our attempts to move on."

Ribbon knew what Zelda was going to say before the words had gotten out, before Zelda's pale lips had opened any further. "Why?"

"Zero will accept that as our surrender."

"So you'd lay down for that freak? We're going to lose, sure. But that doesn't mean we have to make it easy for him. If we're alive, what better way to make life worth living than to fight with all we have?"

"We never had much, anyway."

"So you're not going to make your own life worth it, then? Think of it as a challenge. Find a way to make life mean something important enough to stand for."

Zelda sat up straighter. "Ribbon, I never thought I'd be hearing this from you."

"W-well, I…" She grew quiet for a moment before saying, "I needed to get that off my chest… give myself room to breathe, I guess. But I have a reason to keep my cool now, with everyone else."

The fairy wrapped both arms around the Crystal before getting up, wings beating rapidly. Her face was tight, and she yawned once before mumbling, "I'll look for Addie, then. We'll be back before you know it."

Ribbon flew off into the darkness, the trees parting before her and her angelic glow, seemingly bending around her in an even circle as she departed the campsite.

Zelda and Kirby sat together, blinking sleepily, eyes heavy. Snake and Lucario slept without a sound, their chests falling and rising in slow, even rhythms. The campfire had died out, and the only sources of light were the arcs of the moon that settled down around them, bathing the world in silent radiance, in a white, pearly glow that seemed to bury the last of the glaring day in moonlit snow.

"Poyo," Kirby murmured, breathing deeply so his breath clouded in front of his face. His voice was toneless, his posture slouched. If he had lower eyelids, they would have been baggy. He said nothing, continued to sit there without a word.

Zelda merely grunted. "Yeah. I'm tired, too." _If that's what you mean._

"Poyo," Kirby replied.

After all this time, Zelda still didn't know what that meant.

XxX


	20. Presage

XxX

_Presage_

Several days passed, several waking afternoons and evenings taking in the warm glow of the sun, the chilled spectacle that was the moon and its unending legion of stars. Each and every day the ocean roared and tumbled, and every day the mansion stood on its own, in its own skeleton shadow, surrounded by the forest that felt too empty, too sacred and sullen.

Kirby and Addie wandered through the ruined mansion, digging for weapons, supplies, clothing, whatever they could find that would be useful. The work was intense, and they kept silent as they rifled underneath piles of rubble.

Once they stepped outside onto the central lawn, covered in ash and grime, Addie said, "I feel too relaxed, Kirby. Something needs to happen, or the suspense will kill me. Getting a bit tired of lounging around, actually…"

They surveyed the garden, smelled the overgrown flowers, ducked underneath rogue branches and tumbling leaves. Beneath them, the sea's storm had cooled, settled to a low growl that tickled their ears.

"Poyo," Kirby breathed. His tone was relaxed, gentle like a stray sea wind. His face seemed to glow as he looked around the green.

"It's nice, sure, but… Almost too nice…" Addie shook her head. "I feel like something's always breathing down my neck, you know…?"

Kirby nodded and picked at a flower, its radiant blue petals sparkling with dewdrops like diamonds dyed cerulean. He bent closer, gently tipping the face of the petal towards him so rivulets of water ran down the surface. Then, he released his hand, let the flower fall back into its original position.

"I wonder how long we're going to stay," blurted Addie. She had a habit of blurting out often… Nasty, nasty habit… "Maybe we can try to make a second home here, if things back in Dark Star don't work out. I mean, that is our goal, right? Going to Dark Star and killing Zero…? But if we have to turn back for any reason, it'd be nice to come back here. Man, I'd love that. At least then we'd have someplace to crash."

Kirby nodded again, still staring at the flower's bulbous shape, opened to the sun hiding under a blanket of vaporous clouds.

"Um," Addie said, "Kirby?"

He looked up at her, and for the first time, the flower caught Addie's full attention.

It was a rose, gracefully curving in its shape, flaring out at the top in curls and waves of sapphire petals like ocean currents. Even with the muted heat and light from the hiding sun, she could feel a startling warmth from this rose that danced softly and wavered on the wind, twirling with feathers for feet. There was a gently pulsating aura around the flower, as if it had heart, had a soul.

But that was ridiculous. Roses didn't have hearts or souls.

Especially not blue ones.

Addie drew out her breath. "Aren't blue roses artificially colored? Like, aren't they man-made, so only scientists can create these in labs or something? They can't exist naturally in nature, so people had to come up with ways to make them? Right?"

These roses seemed to have been planted in straight rows, but time had taken its course, disturbed these rows as more blue roses bloomed and as weeks went by without proper maintenance. Many petals had been chewed out, left with wide holes rimmed with edges like shattered glass. Leaves had fallen all over the grass and in the dirt, and some blossoms had wilted, struck down by the harsh glare of the sun and the drought that left the ground inconsistently patched with piles of wildly raging grass and abyssal cracks like canyons.

Addie carefully stopped over a fallen log, coated in crackling leaves and leathery vines. Kirby tore himself away from the rose and followed.

They trod over the ruined earth, speckled with shriveled gray and interspersed with mirages of green that seemed blinding, taking in the scent of tangy, salty air. Fragments of shattered flowerpots lay hidden in the dirt. Somewhere in the distance, seabirds cawed, and a fog bank loomed over the very edge of the endless ocean, creeping closer with a silent finality.

Addie sat down, facing the ocean on a plush blanket of flourishing grass. She sighed, fiddled with her brush. "I do have to admit, it feels good. Waking up to this view every morning… I forgot how nice stuff like this felt, I guess."

Kirby sat down next to her.

Addie was abruptly aware of the creeping cold down her neck, slithering underneath her hair and leaving goosebumps in its wake. She felt… watched, like something in the isolated shadows behind her was about to launch forward.

But it still felt nice, shadows or no…

She glanced behind her at the skeleton of the mansion that still towered overhead, its empty black frame filled with the long, stretching shades of lost memories, peeling paint, and forgotten promises, like someone had just left all of this behind and moved on without a backward glance…

"Augh…" She felt pain spike underneath her nose, close to her sinuses. "Why do you think this place is still standing, Kirb? I don't think that's normal."

Kirby met her eyes, and something glowed within those orbs of light. It was something Addie couldn't comprehend, but Kirby was the one who had stayed here… She knew nothing about the place. Sure, it looked intimidating as a shell, a piece of something lost to history, but there was always more…

"Kirby," asked Addie, "are you alright?"

He tilted his head, as if he was lost and about to ask for directions. "Poyo." The tone was light, framed in a question.

"Um, you know I don't know what you're saying, right?"

He shrugged his round body and turned to stare out at the water.

White peaks of frothing foam rose in the sea, only to crash down in swirls of water. From the cliff, the swirls were like twisting snowflakes, fading into the indomitable mass that was the ocean raging below, crashing and crushing, over and over like a record on repeat.

_You know this must end._

Addie froze.

_You, of all people, know that there is an end to everything. Childhood, innocence, maturity, sorrow, happiness. Laughter, love, pain. All things return to the beginning, all things precede to the end. To the beginning of the end. To zero._

"Kirby," she rasped, rising onto her feet and gripping her paintbrush so hard her knuckles hurt, "get up. Get your sword out."

_I wouldn't have been interested in this place from the start, not after I burned everything of value to the ground. _

"The house is still standing, y'know…"

_Maybe. But there's nothing left inside. Nothing of worth. You've been here long enough, and yet… None of you have given up._

"Oh, like you know what giving up looks like!" Addie found herself yelling at the ocean beneath her, stirring the desiccated leaves and petals scattered around her feet. "Like you know everything, just because you think everything is _oh-so-sad, boo, hoo!_" She stomped her foot once and growled, "So why come by now? Why not, like, a week ago, when half of us were nearly dead?"

_When Zelda mentioned starting over, maybe I thought you'd try that. And if you did, well, there are some actions that speak louder than others. Surrender, for an example. And if you were to surrender, I'd leave you alone. But, no, you haven't. You pretend to recover, you act stubborn and want to fight, but there are people among you who don't agree._

"I don't care, I don't care," muttered Addie. "You should know what's good for you, so back off…!"

_You won't be saying that when a friend kills you while you sleep. You'll regret everything only after it's happened. That's how your kind works. Traitors all hide in plain sight._

"So, she wasn't wrong, then," hissed Addie. "Are you trying to mess with her, too?"

She could hear Zero's reply, low and serpentine, but she droned him out. Go, Addie, go… Get back to the others…

Addie grabbed Kirby's plump hand and dragged him to the back door of the skeleton mansion, leaping over the log and coating the blue roses in dust and dirt. As their feet met the heavy, hard earth, they could hear shouts from the forest closer inland, shouts that sounded achingly familiar—

Already Addie's heart was pounding… Since that one night a few weeks ago, no one had said anything about Dark Star, about betrayal… Zelda had kept quiet after Addie had run off that one night, like she didn't want Addie running off again…

Yeah, sure—

But now, she had heard Zero, and she wasn't even sure if anyone else had, did they already know, where were they, were they being attacked—

They plunged on ahead, even as the Mansion's empty shell melted from view around them as they left the front door behind, even as ferns and brambles pricked their faces, even as the sound of the ocean drew further away. Addie could hear Kirby's muffled cries as she dragged him along through the bushes, he better have his sword, or else—

She skidded to a stop behind a tree as the noises, shouts, and clanging of metal grew in pitch in front of her. Addie pulled the both of them behind a tree, her paintbrush was sweaty and shaking, she hoped she had enough nerve to fight after so long—

_You're getting soft, Adeleine. We can remedy that._

God, get out, get out… Let us live another day—

And a cold voice ahead of them said, "Oh. Did we disturb you?"

Zero. Of course, of course it was Zero, that horrible, inexcusable excuse for a living, breathing person, that horrible, nasty jerk… and she was running out of things to call that miserable, dumb asshole—

"I had the impression that someone here desperately wanted my company. Someone called me… Hmm. It doesn't seem to have been you…" There was a shuffling of steps from somewhere in front of them, and Addie pressed herself against the tree and flattened her thumping chest, Kirby better not be visible, but he's too damn pink… "I think now's as good a time as any to stop by and say hello."

A dull breeze capered in their faces, pulled at the branches and made the ancient wood creak. Zero turned his head up, and the gleam of the sun illuminated the streaks of blood that ran down his face, leaked out from underneath his bandages. "I forgot how warm the sun felt. Now I can understand why you'd want to stay here. But, you have to admit, there is a poetically depressing side to Dark Star. Don't you think?"

Addie could make out a distinct murmuring from next to Zero, alongside the clanging of metal boots and a low, raspy, wheezing noise…

Oh, no.

Oh, no… No, no, no…

Addie bit her lip, choking back a sob. No, they couldn't have. He would have fought them off, no, no… Come on, he barely recovered at all, and that was with Zelda trying her hardest to help out, Zero, you damn jerk, you unbelievable jerk, of course that's what you would do, I didn't expect anything nicer from you—

She heard his voice, shaky and quiet. "What do you want?"

"Snake, you should know. I've expressed interest in you, and since you _eavesdropped _on us earlier, you would have an idea of what to expect."

There was a rustling of foliage, and a dull thud. Someone in the darkened forest grunted, and another thud rang out from ahead of them.

"I know where they are. The Crystal, your protection… Gone." Zero cracked his whip, broke a slab of bark off a tree. "So I think I'll spend my time with you. But mark my words. All of this will end soon."

Addie couldn't stand it. She rushed forward, brush extended, and slammed into Zero. He grunted, pushed Addie away. She landed in a heap and rolled.

"Lucario," Zero called suddenly, and Addie froze on the spot, "you know what to do."

She felt a shadow pass behind her, and dodged to the side. A blur of… sapphire scarred the grass where she had just stood.

Covered in dirt and twigs and breathing heavily, Addie stood up, brush held tight. She turned back.

Lucario was standing there, aura blade shimmering like a hologram in the afternoon sun, face stony. He said nothing as his eyes narrowed.

Without a second moment, Lucario charged at Addie, the air around him blurring in flares of cerulean light.

XxX

She raised her paintbrush to block, and a sliver of sonic energy bounced off. Addie gritted her teeth as the shockwave sent skittering, jolting pulses through her arms.

Lucario leaped back and rushed forward, blade an incandescent spear. She batted it to one side, only to have Lucario slice back in her direction. Heat seared her cheek as the sword narrowly missed her eye.

Their weapons crossed again and again. Addie waved forward, and a stroke of red paint flew at Lucario. He dodged, slashed again, and somehow, Addie found the leverage to hold her ground. His blade clashed against her brush and stayed there, the force of their swings rivaling each other. The blade didn't cut the wood, wouldn't cut it, and the two of them faced each other as they fought for control.

"Lucario, you asshole," she hissed, "what d'you think you're doing?"

Where was Kirby… He needed to see this—

She felt Lucario loosen up, and Addie's brush broke through his defenses. She followed through and batted his blade to the side, but Lucario had moved. He stepped back for a moment, and a sudden blast of energy from his blade cut into the nearest tree, slicing through bark and cutting into the center.

When he looked back at Addie, his eyes were moist; his entire body was shaking. "How do you live," he whispered, "with someone breathing down your neck every waking minute, waiting for you to mess up…?"

"Lucario—"

He tossed his canine head, flexed his paw. The energy blade there hummed and buzzed with a tearing, angry fervor. "Fate has told us to disappear. I will not. And if that means siding with the people who have already won, then…" His voice began to sputter out. "Then so be it."

Snake had gotten to his knees and was slowly rising, baggy eyes tired and lit from the dappled sun above. "Don't you know what teamwork means?"

"I tried," he suddenly roared, raging and slicing at another nearby tree. His blade left a smoking slash down the trunk as he howled, "I tried, and we're almost dead! No, no. It won't happen again. I've learned my lesson."

"Then," Snake replied, straightening on his feet, "we'll do that together."

Lucario scoffed, sliced at the air. "Oh, you? A team player? Someone who doesn't know whether to look out for himself first? How long have you spent thinking about that? How long have you spent hiding in your own damned shadow, afraid of loving for fear of hurting someone else?"

Snake stared at the ground, and when he lifted his head, his eyes seemed to glow. "You should be asking yourself that."

Lucario seemed to flinch. "Then," he muttered quietly, "we are both guilty of something. But no. I cannot change, for changing my own self will change nothing now." He quickly glanced over his shoulder, to where Zero was standing wordlessly, watching them with his single eye like a red spotlight. Lucario turned back, fixed his gaze on Snake. "Not when change has already happened."

"Lucario," Zero said, "didn't I tell you what to do?"

The jackal turned, aura blade held down at his side. "You said I knew what to do. You did not tell me directly."

"It sounds as if you're trying to convince yourself. But you should do more than convince yourself. You should know. They're your enemies, and they oppose what you stand for. They would throw their lives away for a cause you don't agree in. Would you follow? You don't have to comply."

Snake made to walk forward, extend a hand, but Lucario backed up and held his blade in front of him, pointing at Snake's chest. Lucario's eyes were wide, and he was panting wildly, ears alert and legs poised to jump.

"C'mon," muttered Snake. "Lucario…"

The Pokémon shook his head once, twice. Lucario flexed his arm, and the blade over his paw seemed to glow even more sharply, its double edge sparkling dangerously. "I don't know who to believe. I never did, and I still don't."

"But there is a single sole comfort in the end. Because when the end comes, we all go to the same place. The ground welcomes all; it holds no bias." Zero spread his arms wide, and Addie opened her stance, bent over at the knees. Her head was swimming, and there was a sour taste in the back of her mouth, like lemon juice. "And there is also a comfort, knowing that there will be less pain if you—"

He didn't finish, because Snake had charged Zero, knife out in a clenched fist. Zero swerved, raised his whip back to snap forward, but Snake had already slammed his fist into Zero's face with a sound like cracking ice.

The fallen angel staggered back, face an inscrutable mask. Blood gradually dripped from one nostril, dribbling down the chin carved like granite. Zero's mouth hung slightly open, as if he was unable to comprehend the moment.

Then he straightened and faced Snake, held a palm out and up. Dark energies danced along his fingers, the grooves in the skin. If she strained her ears, Addie could barely make out a small, howling, and raging collection of screams whirling away from Zero's hand in flurries of darkness.

Zero closed his white fist and made a punching motion outward. The energy flew from his knuckles clamped tight. Snake dodged and ran forward, closing the distance. Zero and he became a blur of moving limbs, flaring fists, and the occasional glint of a knife blade.

Snake backed up, brought his fist back to punch forward, and Zero lashed his whip, wrapping it around Snake's arm and leaving bloody gashes. He yanked back, and Snake was torn off his feet, flung straight into Zero. The mercenary landed hard, and they went tumbling… Sometimes Snake would be on top, slamming his elbows into Zero's nose, but then Zero would scratch Snake along the chest and through his bandages, and he would wince, like that tiny wound would hurt, and they'd keep fighting, they were moving too fast for Addie to keep up—

Now suddenly Snake had pinned Zero against a tree, but Zero had wrapped his bloodied hand around Snake's left arm, and he backed away, left eye suddenly flaring red, bent double. Zero lashed his whip again, and a fountain of scarlet rained from Snake's face as he stumbled, trying to regain his ground. He gasped, steadied himself against a tree, but Zero was coming closer, readying himself—

With a blur of his fingers, Snake threw his knife forward, catching Zero in the very corner of his chest and flying off into the forest. Zero snarled and pressed a hand to his side. Still, he kept going.

Snake rolled to the side as the whip slammed against the tree. When he got up he kicked forward, hitting Zero in the stomach, but Zero barely flinched. He punched Snake in the solar plexus, right underneath his ribcage, and Snake yelled. His left eye flared red as he backed up.

Addie tensed. She had to help, she had to, or they were all dead—

Too late, Addie felt a hot blur pass in front of her face.

Pain scorched her eyes, her cheeks. She closed her eyes, unable to bear it… Every inch of her head seemed to be aflame, and as she flew backwards, the back of her skull slammed against a tree, and even closed, she could see dots of blue and white dance in front of her pupils— Her fingers opened on their own, her brush flew out of her hand, but it was too late to get up and look for it, everything hurt all over, there were sounds like screeching metal and beating drums in her ears and they hurt like hell; she could barely stand it—

Someone yelled her name, piercing through the dull noise, and she couldn't hear it very well… But it didn't matter.

She blacked out.

XxX

Snake supported himself with an arm against a tree, wiped the blood from his face and breathed heavily. Addie was out cold, her limp form slumped over in a lifeless heap, energy still curling from her hair like smoke.

No. She wasn't dead.

Lucario was standing over Addie's body, paws still glowing with that damn aura of his. He backed up, as if eager to get away. The Pokemon's eyes were wet, and the fur on both sides of his cheeks seemed to be soaked through… Damn him—

Zero looked at Snake, and he couldn't meet his eye. His forehead and his face were burning, and the older stab wound in his chest was throbbing… Any second now and he'd collapse, he'd throw up and he wouldn't be able to stop himself. His breath was shaking, his chest was heaving, and his fingers were trembling… He could barely stand now, and he didn't even have his knife anymore—

"So, you still want this? Call me cliché, but you should just give up. You don't need your knife, little insect. Drop it. You won't need it anymore. Well, actually, you already did. Drop it, I mean."

Snake didn't reply.

Kirby. Where the hell was he…?

"I've always wondered why your pain strengthens me more. Perhaps your life was hard, perhaps not. But," Zero muttered, "your appearance back into the world of the living has driven my curiosity. Has the balance of reality itself been broken? I do not know. Not yet."

Zero cracked his whip, stepped closer as he said, "It's because of my appearance that you were brought back. It seems that both of us don't belong. We're out of place, and the world knows it."

"You more so." Snake was seeing double, but somehow he managed to keep standing—

Zero snarled, "You're supposed to be dead. You don't belong, not anymore."

Snake raised his eyes, looked over Zero's shoulder into the undergrowth. Shapes moved past Zero's line of soldiers; they hadn't moved since first finding and wounding him—

And this tall shape darted forward, stooped over Addie and bent over, and when the shape moved again, Addie was gone.

Lucario suddenly whipped around. "The others. They're here."

Zero and the soldiers whirled around to look.

Then the tall shape, Zelda, burst forward, sword already bathed in flames. She slashed to the side, severing a soldier's upper half from his legs. That soldier dissolved into the ground, leaving nothing behind. By then Zelda was already charging forward to the next opponent, and Kirby and Ribbon were next to her, taking down the other warriors that stood in their way.

The dust settled, the sounds of roaring fire and clashing metal faded, and when all was calm again, Zelda, Kirby, and Ribbon circled around Zero and Lucario.

Snake sighed, brushed sweat and blood off his forehead. His left eye kept twitching, and it wouldn't stop, damn it—

There was an explosion in front of Zero, loud and unimaginably painful, and the flames that resulted bathed the world in red. Just like that first day, being chased through this very forest, arrows in his back and shoulder—

Over the crackle of the fire, Snake heard Zelda yell, "Get over here!"

Snake rushed past a stunned Zero and Lucario, prayed they didn't see him… You only have seconds, mere moments…

As he ran into the forest, he saw a glint of metal on the ground. His knife. Snake stooped to pick it up, then kept going…

When he found the others, they had already started running, and he ran to catch up. Zelda had Addie draped over her shoulder, and she still held her sword in front of her. Kirby kept pace with her, and Ribbon darted between the trees as her Crystal reflected the golden color of the flames at their backs.

"He'll summon more," Zelda rasped breathlessly, "and he wants it to end today. He has Lucario; that's all he needs—"

And Snake looked over at Zelda. She was crying, and her mask—

Her mask had fallen off.

The left side of her face was a mass of raised scar tissue, alternately white and black with grime and soot. Underneath the raised skin were angry red scratches that sliced in all directions. Her left eye was glazed over, yet it still seemed to focus on the burning trees around it. Tears leaked over the swollen lower eyelid, dripped over her mauled cheek.

"It was Link," she gasped, "this was his fault; he did this to me… Gods, why was I so stupid, why did I ever trust him—"

Zelda stumbled and leaned on a tree trunk for support, still holding on to Addie. The princess's tears glistened in the forest's spreading heat as towers of smoke and fire forked upwards like swirling phoenix feathers, held aloft on a heated summer breeze. "Gods, I… no…I can't—"

"Zelda," Snake said, "does it still hurt?"

She barely shook her head. No.

"Then it's fine. Don't worry about it."

Zelda bit her lip, and blood fell from the bite mark there. She kept crying, kept wiping the tears away but they wouldn't leave, they'd keep flowing…

"First Link, then Lucario, then who knows what else… Gods…" Zelda choked on something, maybe saliva, maybe blood… She didn't try to hold the tears back, couldn't try— "Gods, no… Not this… Anything but this…"

Snake clenched his fist, gripped his knife.

"Run," he told the others.

In a moment, he turned around, ran back the way they had come. Back to Zero.

He heard them as they called his name, heard them screaming over the crackle of flames, over the chaotic sound of falling trees and rustling, burning leaves. But they were calling from a different realm, a different side of the world.

If today was the day…

Then so be it.

XxX


	21. Cataract

XxX

_Cataract_

Snake met them next to the cliff's edge, his knife already drawn. They watched him carefully, gazing at him with narrowed eyes.

Zero muttered, "So you actively came back. You actively came looking for us." He shook his head, sighed from the bottom of his chest, yet his stony expression did not change. "I don't need to tell you. You already know how stupid, how imbecilic that idea was."

Snake's limbs were shaking, even though nothing had happened yet, even though the worst hadn't even started. The fires in the woods around them had been put out by the swirling wind from the sea, the fog bank that had finally fallen upon the cliffs and cloaked the verdant grass and trees. "I know."

"So…" Zero's face remained impassive, set in timeless, weathered stone. He fingered the grip of his whip, which was stored curled at his waist like some lazing serpent tail. "Are you really that desperate? Do you wish for death now? Do you regret not staying in Lucario's shelter? Little moth. Little, little, moth. Oh, I'm sure you've learned your lesson now. Surely, even you would know. Surely now you would know that death, that surrender would be preferable to this. I don't mind either way. More power for me."

He gestured at Snake's face. His face must have betrayed something, must have shown something like his baggy eyelids, his purple and yellow cheeks… "Snake. I expressed interest in you. But that interest won't last forever."

Lucario stepped back as he stared at the ground, and Matt moved forward from the shadows, sword down at his side. "Milord."

"Yes, Matt?" Zero glanced his way.

They shared an unspoken conversation, merely standing and facing each other. Matt backed up, retreated yet kept his one green eye focused on Snake's face, his scars, his torn bandages.

Zero faced Snake. "Where are the others? There's still interference from the Crystal…" He spun, as if suddenly coming up with an idea, to face the jackal Pokémon. "Can you sense them?"

Lucario lowered his arms and closed his eyes, but opened them just as fast. "No," he muttered softly, eyes wide and full of gleaming light. His fur stood on end. "I can't… I'm losing the ability to sense them… It's as if…"

_As if the Crystal knows you're an enemy._

"Well, we have Snake, and that's enough for the moment. We'll find the others, make no mistake. Heroes. They're all the same. They'll come looking, clinging to whatever false hopes they have. How can they have hope, still…? Anyway, I can take my time."

Snake settled into a fighting stance. Shoulders squared, fists held in front of him, knees bent. He held his gaze level with Zero's. His knife gleamed.

Zero lunged without a word. He punched forward, and Snake threw the punch to the side, countering with one of his own. Zero moved his body, and Snake's clenched fist met empty air. He drew back as Zero kicked forward, nailing Snake in the stomach, but the mercenary held his ground, it stung like hell, it hurt like hell, but he wasn't going to let this bastard know—

Snake elbowed Zero in the neck, and he choked, and it was a sound unlike what Zero normally sounded like… But Zero's eyebrows creased; he rubbed the base of his neck as he backed up and quickly drew his fist behind him in a flurry of an arm… Snake had already punched forward again, this time connecting with Zero's stomach. Zero doubled over briefly, and Snake advanced.

But a knee connected with the bottom of Snake's chin, he felt everything around him blur into nameless, meaningless flecks and bursts of color and shadow, his bottom row of teeth scraped against his top… Dots blared in his vision, and he barely recovered just to throw aside another one of Zero's punches.

A brisk hook came from the right, and Snake moved his head back. The punch flew in front of his face, barely scratching the front of his nose. Snake threw another punch in reply and Zero caught his fist.

Snake twisted his arm as fast as he could, and Zero let go quickly. He stabbed forward with his knife, scratching Zero on the cheek and drawing a thin line of blood down his white skin. Zero dodged back, taking long, slow steps.

"Well," said Zero, "I can feel something different about you."

Snake said nothing, just readied his knife again, wiped the sweat from his brow. Buy them time, get them out… He only wants you for now…

And Zero came forward again.

Their fists blurred, their arms and legs whirred in movements that blurred tonelessly. Zero was a miasma of speeding wind, moving so fast Snake could barely follow, it was all he could do to block and move forward in turn… It felt like Zero was getting faster with each blow, each stinging kick. Zero's knuckles pummeled his stomach, and Snake countered with a darting jab… Things were blurring together… How many punches had he thrown so far…?

Snake threw yet another punch, and it hit Zero in the cheek. He hissed, staggered back. Out of the corner of his blurred left eye, he saw Zero reach for the whip at his belt. The bloodied figure stretched his fingers, drew his hand away after an indecisive moment.

"No, maybe I'll save that for later," Zero mused. "I'm content without any weapons at the moment. Well, maybe not. But you, Snake, you've been here long enough. After this—"

His movements were a blur. Zero's hand wrapped around that sharpened vine-whip and lashed it around Snake's neck.

Snake stumbled back, the pain in his head was extreme, it felt horrible, he was on fire, he could barely move. His hand grasped at the whip around his neck, and he couldn't pull it away… Every move he made burned his skin, and he could barely feel his arms… He could see his vision going fuzzy, could see Zero's stark outline fading out—

Zero dragged Snake to him, and Snake nearly passed out… He was flying through the air, and Zero had drawn his whip away… the pressure had lifted but he could feel himself floating far off like a balloon, somewhere where the others couldn't find him—

The world turned and whipped around him in a cyclone of color, and Zero had pinned Snake against a tree.

"Do you want it to end yet, little insect?" Zero's voice rasped in his ear, and Snake tried to pull away, but his head was unfeeling and he could see his vision going double. "Do you want this to end? Well, I do. I think I've had my fill."

Zero threw Snake away from the tree and towards the cliff. Below, the sea howled and grasped at the land above it, clawing down rocks and bringing them back into its borderless maw with splashes of white foam. The wind tugged at his body, pulled at his hair and threatened to drag him out into the watery expanse behind him—

"You did this for Zelda, yes? For Zelda and the others? Yes. You would have. You were angry, didn't want that to happen again, to anyone else." Zero made a low growl in the back of his mouth. "Heroes. What makes you so different from the rest of your race? Trash. That's what you all are."

Something registered in the back of Snake's mind as he bent over, breathing hard, with Zero coming closer, his whip once again tucked away. He still had his knife wrapped in his loosely tightened fingers. He was shaking all over, but at least he still had his weapon—

"Lucario."

The Pokémon stepped forward to Zero's side. His aura blade was sitting proud above his paw, the stone in his glove almost blinding. "Y-yes?"

"Kill him."

Lucario shook his head, and remained where he stood.

"Lucario… remember our agreement? You're here out of your own free will. And I hope you intend to honor that."

The Pokémon looked straight at Snake, and his face was an enigma.

He lunged, and Snake slashed with his knife, blocked Lucario's incoming swing with his own. The clash smelled of ozone, blocked out the salty, mildewed scent of the sea. Their limbs hit together, bounced off only to come back again—

Aura launched off Lucario's paws and hit Snake in the chest.

Suddenly his left eye was burning, and so was his shoulder… There was a voice hissing in his head that didn't sound at all like him, and if he concentrated hard enough he could hear whispered words, voices of agony that were from another world—

He felt the burning touch of a pointed sword stab into his chest, and blood erupted in his mouth. No, no… Lucario… No, you can't, we can't afford this—

Agony exploded all over him, his bones and his muscles were straining, all the sounds around him were blending into a single high whine, he could barely see anything… the world had narrowed into a single hole, a small tunnel that seemed to shrink with each second of burning pain—

His numb right hand opened and he dropped his dagger, and out of the corner of his fading eyesight, he saw his knife tumble end over end into the sea. He could see it flashing wildly with prismatic beams of light as it turned over, as it bounced off a protruding edge of the cliff face. Then it was a speck, and it was gone.

Lucario drew his blade out, and Snake could dimly see a fountain of his own blood follow the sword's passage. His knees were turning to jelly, and it was a shock that he was still standing, he couldn't see straight, he felt bile mix with the blood in the back of his throat…

Lucario slashed across Snake's chest, and it burned, it hurt like hell, there was yet another scar he needed to keep track of—

Snake could feel himself drifting away, even before Lucario's foot slammed into his stomach, even before he bent over as he was flung backwards. His feet left the ground, and he could feel open air underneath him. The sky was above him, shining blue through the fog, but the color there seemed to be getting grayer, darker, fading even as he fell…

When he hit the water, he felt a dull thwack. Salt water splashed into his face and nose, scorched his exposed skin. The wounds in his chest were numb, and he was numb all over.

Snake felt water seeping into his lungs, choking him, stifling the air he had left.

When at last he drifted off, he felt nothing.

XxX


	22. Ambience

XxX

_Ambience_

The dreamscape around Zelda titillated between faded purple and black. The walls around her were bathed in a brilliant violet sheen, dwindling in and out of the shadows and waving like kites in the breeze. Her head felt light, barely tethered to her body… But she was dreaming, wasn't she…? They'd fallen asleep somewhere. Right…?

Footsteps sounded to her left. Oh, gods… She shivered, and her legs felt like leaden weights. She didn't want to look. No, no…

Zero and Snake were fighting, but she knew how it was going to end… It ended like it always did, with Zero winning and ruining everything, but he'd already won, hadn't he—

She heard a noise from the wall next to her, she knew what that meant, it always ended the same… It always ended with that yell, that exact roar of pain and unending anguish and never-ending sorrow, and Zero would just be standing there with his stupid red eye, his horrible halo, like he deserved the damned thing—

Like usual, Zero threw Snake's lifeless body to the side, turned to Zelda and focused his one sole eye on her… She felt herself shiver in her boots, even as Zero turned away and wiped his bloodied knife on his torn white robes, even as Ribbon and Kirby turned that darkened corner and saw Zelda cowering, saw Snake… dead, saw Zero standing there, calmly and in control, with one hand wrapped casually around his dagger, bright and wet.

Zelda couldn't react fast enough. She was still cowering where she stood, and she didn't even have her sword anymore. Her metal hand was cold, freezing, like an icicle attached to her pathetic stump of an arm. She watched, frozen, petrified, as Zero held out a hand and unleashed some deadly spell, she didn't know what it was but it didn't matter… He said something different every dream, made slightly different motions, but it didn't matter at all… Ribbon would always drop abruptly, a puppet with her strings cut, and Kirby would just stand there, eyes unfocused. Zero would always motion again, and then Kirby was down… His sword would always clatter out of his hand, and sometimes it landed in a different spot but the total outcome never changed, never…

Lucario's foggy voice yelled her name, but it was a dream, it was all a dream—

Then he was down, shock in his wide eyes and open mouth, the tip of a venom-colored sword jutting out from his chest just below the spike there. He fell without a sound, save for the barely audible thud of his body on the polished floor.

Matt stepped out from around him, but that was to be expected, she knew. He had something in that wispy, vaporous hand of his… It was a body, light and small, but Zelda knew who it was, recognized the short black hair, the torn smock, the splintered paintbrush held in her limp bloody hand…

And Matt threw Addie's body forward into the light, where it crumpled weakly and without resistance, and Zelda still couldn't move. Even in this dream, she tried, kept trying and it wasn't happening, gods—

Every dream, Zero's voice pierced the fog of her thoughts, and every dream, he said the same thing. "Are you tired of running? You should be. You've run long enough. And now, I think… Stop. You see what happens when you don't."

Gods, gods… She couldn't breathe now, her lungs wouldn't work…

And Link walked around that murky corner, his skin a pasty shade of gray, his eyes like red beacons, his sword gleaming with a harsh edge like pack ice. And Zelda wanted to go somewhere else, to turn and run and never look back… But she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything, maybe she really was helpless—

But Matt suddenly lunged at Link, throwing him to the side, and the world shifted around her, fading into a swirl of black and purple that spiraled into eternity.

XxX

When the dream settled and the landscape flattened into a smooth, inky plain of obsidian, Zelda found herself facing Matt. The swordsman's eye gleamed eerily in the vast, seamless plain, a single shining beam that danced in the dark.

"You're still dreaming, don't worry." Matt gestured at the ghastly field around him, at the thin shell of white light that floated a ways off the ground. "Doesn't look like much, which is how you know. Now, I think you know why I'm here. Zero says you're smart, and I agree."

Zelda's mind whirled. She'd been expecting that same horrible ending she got every time; no matter how hard she tried to change it, to wake up, it never happened, and she'd finally wake up when it ended, sweating like mad and breathing like someone had stepped on her chest. "Why… Why are you here…? H-how?"

"Like I said, always the 'why' with you." Matt bowed his head so the green of his eye ricocheted off the ground like a faceted emerald dipped in fire. "I did not do this out of courtesy. I did this to talk to you. I suppose this would be better than coming to you in person. Things are quite busy over here."

A fiery stake was slowly pushing its way up into Zelda's ribcage, straight through her heart. "Yes, well, now that you're here, please put me in a different dream, if you would. I don't want any of this anymore, not after what happened. Please. Can you… maybe put me in a nice dream? Something that's not a nightmare…?" She kept her voice level, but it was still shaking… It felt like the earth was shaking around her for miles, but she knew it was just her, there were goosebumps all over her skin and she was shaking; it was only her…

"You sound like a whiny child… When confronted with the reality of a situation, just live with it. Zero taught me that much. So while we're here, please, I need answers."

She shook her head. "No, Matt. I'm sorry. We can't talk about this, and I don't trust you. So if you could, for your own good, please put me somewhere else. Wake me up, even. I wouldn't mind at this point."

"Zelda. We need to talk about this. I'm confused, and I want answers. Maybe you do, too."

She lunged at Matt and found herself sprawled on her stomach, the swordsman's voice still echoing next to her. "Zelda, please."

"Thank you," she sneered, rising to her feet and brushing the front of her robes in angry sweeping motions, "for saying please."

"Why did Lucario join us? His motives are a jumble, a mess that I can't comprehend. Why?"

"I don't know. I don't know, just put me somewhere else…"

Matt tossed his cape restlessly, his necklace jangling. "Zelda. This may be the only chance to get answers. And I need them, too. Let me… Help me…"

Matt was holding his head with his dark hands of vapor, his sword gone, his eye flickering, a lamp lit by a dying flame. "I need help. Zelda. Zero tells me these things, and I don't know if he's right. I must agree with him. I need to…"

She backed up. "Sorry. I can't trust you."

"L-like you trusted Lucario?"

Zelda bit her lip, there it was again. "Sorry, I'm sorry, Matt, I can't help, and I think I need that help more than you do…"

"Zero is my master and I am his creation. I must guard his life with mine, and if I fall, then… Then it will not matter, for he will have lived. Such is my life, my way…" Matt paced about on his invisible feet, and his voice seemed to be shaking. "I have been taught his principles. Suffering is eternal, and the world must know it soon. But… From what I have seen, you fight on, and I do not know what you fight for."

Zelda found herself laughing harshly, and that sound reverberated in a circling ripple around her. "You'd relate to Snake very well. For him, war is an instinct."

"No. Not just for him."

She stared at the ground, wringing her hands. "You're right."

There was silence between them.

Matt suddenly whipped to face her. "So what do you fight for? Surely you'll know. Surely you'd make up for the failings of everyone else… If they don't know what they fight for, you should…"

"I want to make sure everyone gets out fine."

"Purely for survival…?" Matt backed up, narrowed his single eye. "No. I thought… Zero had said that… said that you had ideals. I wanted to know what those were. But, do you really? Have ideals?"

"They're not mere fantasies, daydreams, and they help us stay alive. So, yes. I do. It's not just about living. And… and sometimes, dying for… something would be better than being content with what little life has to offer, because then you would have died for what you believed in."

"Dying for something…?" Matt looked about. "Something that is not any person, not any country or alliance…?"

Zelda nodded. "For a personal ideal."

Matt gazed into the eternal, spiraling sky. Then he lowered his gaze, muttered quietly, voice sullen, "That is a nice way to think."

Zelda had nothing to say, nothing to reply with. She asked, "Why did Lucario join you?"

"I don't know. And I won't pretend to know. But he joined out of his own free will. He had pleaded to Zero in his dreams, asked for acceptance. That's what Zero tells me, at least."

Zelda narrowed her gaze. "So he's not possessed. His soul is clean, because he chose to join you."

"There's the chance of betrayal," Matt replied evenly, "but Zero doesn't think that chance warrants his attention. As he says, 'what is there for Lucario to betray'? His friends? His allies? They don't exist here."

"That's what Zero thinks."

Matt's eye widened, and the flickers of his black mane danced in the muted light. "Perhaps. Have you ever thought it true, then? That friends don't exist?"

She looked around wildly, as if searching for an exit. "I have to keep hoping they do. We don't have much else."

"Other than your own willpower, I suppose."

Zelda settled her gaze on the swordsman's darkened, swirling form. "That too."

"Snake hasn't broken, not yet. Someday he will, and perhaps, it may kill him. It happens with everyone. But, he's resisted quite well… He's strong and has a will of iron. Yet, he's always selfless, always devoted."

Matt paused, swayed where he hovered, and said, "Why do you think that is?"

Zelda stood stock still, frozen in time, limbs shaking to break the spell upon her. Matt watched her for a moment longer before dissolving into the dusty, shining dreamscape, almost as if he was never there.

XxX

She woke up and jolted upright, gasping as rivulets of cold sweat rolled down her neck, heart beating fast.

The world around her was frozen in a circle of stars, celestial orbs that seemed to dance and twirl where they hung. Somewhere nearby, the ocean roared at the sky it could not fully grasp, and continued to pound against the cliffside. Its white caps shone with light reflected from the moon, dissipating to nothing with each falling arc of the waves.

Zelda gave another jolt, looked at the people around her. Ribbon was sleeping, and there were tracks throughl the dirt and the blood on her cheeks. Addie was snoring, her chest falling and rising in even rhythms as she lay against Ribbon. Her paintbrush was curled idly in her fingers, lying still on the sodden grass.

She allowed herself to breathe. They were still near the Mansion, and Zero—

Zero wouldn't come back for them, because, because… Because Snake—

She found herself fighting back tears, gripping the sides of her robes so her fingers hurt. Zero was gone, but so was Snake, and they would never see him again—

Something grabbed her sleeve. Kirby. He was brandishing a small stick, pointing it at the ground, writing something. A message, or something… But Zelda couldn't see, she had tears in her eyes still, and no matter how many times she wiped them they wouldn't go away—

Zelda took a deep breath, inhaling through both her nose and mouth. Breathe, breathe. It'll be fine as long as you get a hold of yourself…

She sighed, shaking, wiped her eyes with the length of her arm. She looked down.

_I think we'll be alright. We have each other, right? So I think we'll be fine._

Zelda nearly choked, and her next breath ousted a stutter of laughter. "Kirby. Kirby. Really? Many times over, we've seen that nothing is fine, nothing—"

Kirby scribbled furiously in the dirt, and stopped twice because he nearly snapped the twig he was writing with. _I think Snake will be fine. He knows how to handle himself. He's strong, I think. Stronger than all of us. That's good._

"But it's not good for him, because he has to put up with so much," rasped Zelda through clenched teeth. "He's going to get himself killed and he nearly has before, and maybe he already is—"

_No. I still think he's fine. What he believes is different from us. It's all a matter of perspective, I guess…_

Zelda punched the ground, blurred and foggy through her tearstained eyes. She punched once more, then again, again, again. And no matter how hard she tried, the punches wouldn't stop, she couldn't stop them. She didn't want to wake the others, didn't want them to see her cry or hear her scream, it wouldn't be good for them—

_Snake. Snake. _Her thoughts raged on in her mind's desert without her, and they howled his name even though she didn't want to think about it, yelling so loud the stars above seemed to bend over to listen in. All that time surviving, fighting, finding a way out, and for what…? For Lucario to, to be an imbecilic moron and mess things up, to ruin everything and he would never know how to feel about it because by then they'd all be dead—

Kirby leaned in closer, snuggled up against Zelda's side. He rested his plump hand on her trembling arm, looked up at her eyes with a blank expression, and expression that somehow said nothing yet said everything…

And she sobbed openly, nose clogged, what were they going to do from here on out—

She didn't notice Addie and Ribbon were up until they came to her side, both crying as well.

Gods, Zelda didn't mean to make them cry, but here they were, crying anyway—

No one spoke for a long moment.

Then, as she watched the moon above, Ribbon asked, a creaky undertone in her voice, "Why were you crying?"

"Ribbon, you know. You know why, you don't need to be an intellect to know—"

"No, really. Why?"

Zelda merely shook her head, rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. "I'm crying because—"

"Zelda."

And something in Ribbon's voice made the princess glance up from the ground beneath, look into the fairy's eyes. In the night's tepid aura of luminescence, they shone with warmth, but something else, something Zelda couldn't place. Ribbon said softly, "I mean, we have each other. What is there to cry about…?"

"Snake's dead, Ribbon—"

Ribbon's lips shook as a tremor went through them. "All we can do is hope."

Out of Zelda's mouth came a shaky choke of laughter, pushed from the center of her chest. "I'm not sure if I have any left."

"Then, you keep trying. That's… That's all we can do."

And they fell silent, gazing at the gentle moon, meeting the watchful eyes of her legions of stars.

XxX


	23. Paladin

XxX

_Paladin_

Everything hurt, and nothing made sense, nothing at all… What felt like the sky was the ground beneath him, and at this point he wasn't even sure if the ground really was underneath. Maybe it was the sea, or… Or sky… Or something else entirely. Maybe it wasn't even the sky or the sea or the ground at all. No. It couldn't have been. The sea, the sky wouldn't have been this confusing, wouldn't have been a swirl of black and meaningless names and thoughts. Yet his thoughts were confusing, a maze bathed in ink and nothing—

Visions flickered in and out of this whirl, this dark maelstrom of possible sky and earth, but these images made no sense, they had happened long ago, long in his first life, if this really was his second life, if anything was really as it was and could be taken as the truth—

"You're no dog. You're a wolf."

But that didn't make sense.

He had said that years ago, standing on the snow-frosted ground of an island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago, ice biting through his boots… Hadn't he? The person he had been talking to was dying, bleeding out where she lay, and… And that was nearly a decade ago. Maybe longer…

Yet here he was, a tunnel in his blurring vision widening to reveal that woman's figure lying prone in the snow, blood on her chin, her eyes unfocused, glassy as they stared at the stars. If this really was a decade ago, then why…? Why was everything so clear, why, why…? Why could he feel the cold air snapping at his exposed skin, his eyes, his nose and cheeks…? There was a gun in his gloved hand, blood on this woman's clothing, but that was so long ago…

Another thought cut through the haze, the animosity of the unknown, the… the coldness of these "memories", and this thought brought with it a knife, a ragged blade that cut into his mind and everywhere else, and he felt pain, pain in his skull and inside his chest, and everything he felt and saw was burning with fire and pain. The snowfield faded, and other scenes faded by, other people, other locations, other buildings and God knows what else—

The years passed by, if they could really be called years, and somewhere in this mass of pain and a sense of nothing that eroded itself away with every second of time, a voice seemed to whisper to him. He couldn't understand the words, and it was as if it was speaking in a different language, and even then it sounded like nothing but noise, gibberish, a babble of indistinct chatter lifted upon a tide of white noise, like the ringing of bells, the creaking of doors, the clashing of steel swords. And none of it made sense, not when paired with this myriad of scenes from his… past, if he could really call it that. If this really was the past; he wasn't sure of the time, and he wasn't sure of much else either. And the voice grew to be several, until it was an army muttering meaningless words into this field of absolute nothing—

More people phased by, were there in his line of sight for only a moment before the darkness everywhere ate away at that portal, that window into that time. More chattering whispers, more detached quotes that meant nothing, more and more people seemed to pass by, leave their mark and move on to greater and better things—

There was tickling sensation in his legs, and the more he thought about it, the quieter the drone of nameless voices became. More people, more toneless murmurs grew silent, until one voice remained, one soul that left its last message: _You should have stayed dead. Yes, I would have had to move, change hosts, but… Still. You should have stayed dead. Where you go, as long as you live, I will follow. With or without Zero, Dark Matter is everywhere. I am everywhere. Death is but a doorway, yes, but it is a doorway that closes behind you. You could have left it all behind, left me._

This voice, this presence waited before speaking again.

_Why didn't you leave? Love, I see. Love… Pathetic._

If his conscience could have replied it would have, but what he meant to think came out as nothing, as pure ambience, white noise that held no form, no sentience.

_I will be here. You cannot escape, for how could you escape your own conscience, your own suffering heart? You can't, and you never will. For I am everything. Nothing. Both. So why bother fighting the one thing you can never end?_

He couldn't reply, still, and whatever thoughts he had were nothing but an empty, arid wind that brought a dry, arcing pain that made something in him jolt, as if hit by lightning… This world around him flashed out for one second, and he could discern rough, sandy colors in the ground he was laying on, the crashing of some great, formless beast above him as he reclined on his stomach, its glacial, slippery grip beating rhythmically into his back. But the pain blurred it out, and an inkblot spread over this vision, and in a fast moment, the voice was back, speaking with its haze of a whisper.

Yet its words seemed to be waning, like it was walking away… But that was just him, imagining things, because nothing made sense anymore, nothing made sense and the voice didn't even seem to have a body. Nothing made sense at all, nothing, and no matter how hard he thought, nothing changed.

Abruptly, the scene changed again, and the voice was silenced immediately, its string of muddled utterances cut off abruptly, falling into an abyss. The numbness faded into pain and stayed that way, the air cleared, and he found himself in his body.

He was lying down, his limbs numb and coated with frost that froze his bones in place; everything was numb and he could barely feel anything. The beast behind him was pounding at the space around his legs and at his waist, and its hands were damp and cold, sinking through his suit, pulling him closer to its yawning mouth—

_You mean nothing. No matter how hard you try, your death will amount to the same as your life: nothing._

A tremor of a feeling rent itself a pathway down his arm, and it twitched, the fingers on the hand there curling in, out… He could sense it digging into the ground and what he felt was cold, sopping and coated in something wet. It dragged him farther away from the beast, and far away from its blanket of a grasp…

When his hand could no longer move, it flopped down to rest in the sand, and he couldn't shake that numb feeling creeping up his body and crawling into his mouth, couldn't open his eyes and he couldn't feel anything at all, and the breath in his lungs began to melt, and there was ice in his chest that froze everything over and burned, even though it was ice, only ice—

_Zero is right to fight you. He is the void, the feeling of nothing. And that is something you cannot fight. Not without losing yourself._

A breath escaped out of his mouth as a whimper, a gasp he himself could barely hear, a gasp that sent a shockwave jolting through his breast and limbs. He choked on something in the back of his mouth, and the space between his eyes grew numb, as if someone had jabbed a dagger in the bridge of his nose. He twitched his arm, and it dragged him a few inches farther, through the sandy stones and closer to the ground, wherever that was—

When his lungs heaved and brought up seawater, when warmth trickled down his chin and pooled around him, he rested flat on his chest, coughing gently through a conflagration of pain, the sound of crashing waves behind him dying, disappearing into a dull silence.

_Should the pain become too much, I know what will happen. You will break. You, your comrades, your… "friends". And here I wait. It won't take long._

Two plodding feet, in front of him, trudged through his fading eyesight and threw plumes of sand in every direction.

His hand twitched in front of him, and a croak escaped his mouth, rushed forth with a tide of blood.

Hands, strong and tight, reached under his shoulders and hauled him up onto the beach, dragging him along as the sand underneath him gave way.

Pain lashed like a whip across his chest, and he blacked out.

XxX

Ganon was sitting on the drenched dirt, staring silently at the clouds joining into a blanket of gray mist. He closed his eyes, breathed through his nose, and relaxed his shoulders. He had questions, and he wanted answers. Preferably one after the other.

He didn't know what had happened, didn't know how much time had passed. One minute, he was falling, the darkness of the Ripple Star catacombs entrenching him, and the next… That had been… what? A few days ago? Weeks, months?

There were footsteps pounding behind him, plodding through the dirt and rifling through the waist-high grasses, as if the owner of those feet was late for something, maybe a formal dinner, a banquet of some sort. But she could wait. She would have to.

Without turning around, he said, "Samus, if you are in a hurry, then I apologize. You need to give me a moment."

There was no reply. At first. She was the type who stayed silent, quarreling with her own self instead of the voices that surrounded her. That's who she was, and there was no denying it, no trying to get her to open up. All things happen in due time. It was her choice.

Again came that low bout of laughter in his head. Every time he heard it, the voice, the inflection pointed to Zero. Zero.

Zero. How many times could he say the name without having it lose its horrible… empty edge, its bitterly swollen taste upon his tongue. He gritted his teeth. He wanted to yell, to run at Zero and make sure he never saw another red sky, another conquered land, another dying mortal.

Even here, he was a nuisance. Even here, in this abandoned jungle overrun with trees and wildlife that fleeting thought of the sun as a fantasy, an illusion dressed in white, Zero cried out to him, and his words were like poison.

_All things happen in due time, yes. That is true. All things will happen, like the end, the beginning of some great play. The end, and your destruction. All for your heroics. All for your idea of love. You know what I think of that. Fools. You'll know, soon enough._

Then, Samus's voice came from behind him, rose into a creaky yell that matched the low undulations of the misted afternoon and cut through the fog that was beginning to take root in the warlock's head. "No, Ganon. This can't wait." She seemed… panicked, like she was being set upon by wolves, surrounded by bandits. Never had she lose her nerve like this. Never. "You need to see this, please."

He shook the sleep out of his muscles, stretched his arms to the sky. Ganon shifted where he sat, a prickle of ice settling deep in his spine. Samus would never… Never. She had enough sense, enough experience to know.

He rose onto his feet and turned to face Samus. She stood tall in the gray stillness encapsulating the space around, her blonde hair plastered to her face, her cheekbones stagnant and soaked with moisture from the rainy mist. She breathed heavily, each inhalation labored, as if she was exhausted. Well, that was forgivable.

The thing cradled in her arms twitched, and its shape solidified, its outline highlighted in his sight. It was a body, limp and cold in Samus's bent arms, its brown hair scattered in every direction, its hands curled idly, unfeeling. Its— his— eyes were closed, sweat and dried salt having crusted them over. His slowly heaving chest was a mass of cuts, angry and red. In the center lay a thick, dark hole, a maw that frothed with ruby blood and bubbled in the clothing around the wound.

Snake.

No. No.

And Ganon had more questions, questions that tumbled in a cyclone of words. Why. Why, why, why… Where were the others? Zelda, Ribbon, Kirby…? How were they doing…? Where was Zero, Dark Matter…? Why?

Ganon knew why he was here. But Snake…

The warlock placed his palm against Snake's forehead and recoiled. The skin was wet and cold, slimy. Pale and white, like freshly fallen snow.

Snake coughed in his sleep, and blood foamed at the corners of his twitching mouth. His right hand convulsed from the wrist, and the fingers there opened, a dying flower in the light of a desert sun, before clenching shut in jerks, arcs.

Samus set Snake down on a bed of grass, both of his arms splayed out on either side of him. She muttered to Ganon, "I hope you know what this is."

He nodded. "Zero." There was his name again, with its acrid taste, its sour feeling against his tongue. "You know, Zero."

Samus stared at him for a moment. Then, she snarled, snarled like a wolf showing its fangs. "Yeah, him. I know, you know. We all know." Her growl died on her lips as she pursed them, turning her glance down to the unconscious mercenary lying at her feet. "So why is he here? He… he died before the invitations had been sent out."

"I didn't know that."

"The Hands said they just hadn't invited him back. I knew better. They wouldn't say that without a reason of some sort. And when I asked, they didn't give one." She shrugged then, the gleam in her eyes dying out. "He'd told me a few things before then, and I had asked around, too. But, here…"

"It has to do with Zero," muttered Ganon. "He's expressed interest in Snake several times, and there're a number of reasons as to why, none of which… I like to think of. And Snake's here only because Zero is. Neither of them is meant to exist."

With calloused hands, her touch soft, Samus rolled Snake away from her and onto his side, so his back was facing her. She felt at his shoulder blades, and her fingers froze over the top of his left shoulder. Something made her stop, something that seemed to charge the air around her. Her hand moved to her pocket, drew out a switchblade. She clicked it, releasing the dagger's edge, and cut into the thermal suit around Snake's shoulder blade.

Ganon would have said something, would have perhaps asked a question, but he couldn't. His mouth wouldn't open, his voice wouldn't respond.

Snake's exposed left shoulder was a mass of pulsing, throbbing skin, gray as charcoal, blue and red vessels twisting through the flesh that hung limp and dead, winding over the bone like colored ribbons. A black starburst spread from a scar stained with dusted ink, its raised edge blistered and rimmed with ragged scabs. Samus extended a finger and brushed the area, and Snake jolted in his sleep, the muscles in his face drawing and wincing, baring his teeth at phantom shadows, at the blanketed sky above.

Without thinking, Ganon leaned in and pinched open Snake's left eyelids. The iris was black, the pupil white… The rest was red.

He lifted the other eyelids open, lungs creeping upward into his throat.

Red, like the first eye.

Ganon sat back, released Snake's eyelids. He sighed deeply, and he felt something in his chest twinge. How long was this to go on? How long would they have to… live like this…?

"Will he be alright?" Samus scraped the edge of her switchblade against the grass, cutting their stalks and scattering them across the sodden earth. She stared at Snake's shoulder, mouth set in a tight line, eyes shining with an unplaceable feeling.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Ganon peeled away at the hole in Snake's thermal suit, tracing the path of his veins and arteries as they cut through the lifeless flesh down his back. He shook his head, breathed through his nose and sat cross-legged next to Samus. "I am not sure. He's been fighting this for a long while. Maybe he's… given up. I wouldn't hold it against him."

"Fighting against what? Possession?"

"Yes."

Samus jolted, eyes widened, limbs froze. "What?"

"One of Zero's minions is inside him, even as we speak. It saps at his strength, turns the world upside down, and takes away all hope."

"I'm surprised he's here. Still."

"The feeling is shared between us, Sam." Ganon rubbed at his bare arms. "Who knows how long he'll live. Maybe he'll just… pass, because something, someone saw him as out of place. He is, and I fear the world will treat him as such."

She wrung her wrist, her hand straying to the paralyzer pistol at her belt. "And will he—"

"Perhaps. I don't know if he has lost, yet. If he were conscious…"

"He won't be. Not after this. How… how is he even alive, after all these injuries?"

"Yet another question that needs an answer. I don't know, Samus. Most of these things pass my mind, and none of them have a definite solution. I don't know. And I won't say that I do." Ganon glanced briefly at the triangle gleaming on the back of his hand, shining dimly against the wrinkled, emerald skin. "But he's strong, stronger than I can comprehend, and in ways I cannot count."

Samus placed a hand against Snake's heaving chest, feeling a rough cough rise through the mercenary's throat and gurgle at the back of his mouth. His eyes flickered open rapidly, fluttering, and Samus drew back in a blur.

"And have you seen… anyone else lately? When you were over in… Dark Star?"

"Yes," he grumbled. He wished he could forget. "Zelda. Kirby. Lucario. Link. Bowser. But the last two don't count. Not anymore." He didn't need to bring up Ribbon, or Addie. Or maybe he didn't feel like it.

She glanced at him.

"They're with Zero now. Possessed. And unlike Snake, they couldn't fight it, not for as long as he did."

Samus stared off into the tumultuous skies above, a warm breeze jostling her ponytail. "So. They're gone, too."

"In a way."

Samus rose to her feet, swayed and staggered. "Bring him in. We need the medical kit." She wiped sweat from her brow and quietly said, "We'll get him patched up, but… His possession. What are you planning?"

"Something dangerous." Ganon shook his head violently. "I have an idea. But I don't trust myself. The procedure, should it go wrong, would not bode well for anyone, least of all for me." He bent over, carried Snake in front of him.

Blond hair bouncing around her chiseled face, Samus set out first, combat boots carving prints into the dirt. Her hand, Ganon noticed, never strayed far from the grip of her pistol. She looked about them as they trudged through the steaming undergrowth, eyes staring unblinkingly.

Surely she would have known. The creatures here wouldn't have disturbed them unless provoked. They had nothing to fear, nothing to worry about.

Ganon found himself snorting with suppressed laughter. Yes. Sure. Nothing to fear… Right.

XxX

In bed, Snake seemed asleep.

For all Ganon knew, he could have been dead.

The warlock sat at the bedside as night wreathed the jungle plain, wringing his hands and yawning. He cast his gaze over the room, settling on the moonlight that sat in a gleaming pool upon the carpet, the wooden windowsill. The back door was open slightly, enough to let a gust of wind carry away the smell of… rotting flesh and pungent chemicals. Medicine, "modern" remedial practices. At this point, any sort of treatment would have done fine. But it had to be modern, up to date.

He shuddered. Magic wouldn't have helped, not with something like this. Not with… possession, or dark mysticism. And it didn't, not even at the start.

But still.

It _had _to be modern.

Ganon rubbed his eyes, jerked as Snake's left hand gave half a twitch and curled into a bare fist, white-knuckled. He went for the sword leaned against a nearby table leg, drew back at the last moment Snake relaxed, as his hand uncurled.

Samus walked through the back door, Pikachu at her heels. The mouse Pokémon's cheeks sparked as it squeaked at Ganon, at the strange man lying on the bed with his head reclined limply against a heap of pillows. It stood on its back legs, perked its ears up before ambling next to Ganon's feet.

"Is he doing okay?"

"His pulse is steady. It's not getting any better."

They looked at Snake, the bandages around his bare chest tinged a deep, dark red, the skin around his face beginning to turn gray, the life in his cheeks draining. His mouth was moving in slurred murmurs they couldn't hear, his muscles pulsing out in livid shudders. And every movement, every twitch of every limb, finger, felt slow, too slow, and they could have stopped completely, perhaps no one would notice for a long while—

Ganon shook his head. Don't think like that.

Pikachu hopped up onto the bed, landing next to Snake's arm, staring into his still, placid face. It sighed, gently nuzzled the wilting hand in front of it.

No response.

Snake coughed, and the sound cut through their strained silence like a gunshot. Pikachu leapt off the bed in a flash of golden fur and onto the floor, tumbling against the mildewed wood. Ganon reflexively reached forward, placed a steadying hand flat on Snake's jerking chest as his spasms settled, as he fell into a hushed, troubled sleep once again.

It took Ganon a moment to notice that Samus was grasping his right shoulder, her nails digging through his skin.

He shrugged her off softly, then muttered, "I'll be here. Get some rest, and I'll tell you when something arises."

"Yeah." She walked down the hallway into the adjoining rooms. Then, she turned, her eyes gleaming strangely in the flickering gaze of the moon, and asked, "Have you thought it through?"

Ganon turned his gaze to the world outside, stroking through Pikachu's fur with one languid hand. "I will."

He nodded to himself as Samus walked away.

Yes. I will.

There's not much else left.

XxX


	24. Ouroboros

XxX

_Ouroboros_

Sunlight streamed through the window with its curtains fluttering ajar, perched on the back of Ganon's skull and nestled in his fiery hair. He gave a snort, lifted his head up from his folded arms.

The room was the same as it had been just a few hours ago, with Pikachu lying next to where Ganon's head had rested, hunched, over Snake's bed. The Pokémon grunted from its small, prickly nose, and a small gust of breath wafted over Ganon, smelling slightly moldy, stale. Maybe it didn't smell like anything. Maybe that was just his imagination. Anything could have passed as possible, anything.

He dragged his arms over his eyes, wiped the sleep away while stifling a yawn. He took a moment, glanced at Snake.

Snake was still breathing, his chest still rising. But the color in his face…

Still gray.

Ganon sighed. How many times had he done that so far, sighed, like the world was miserable? How many times had he been… disappointed with… with life? The way it cycled, curved into recovery, renewal and rejuvenation, only to fall back into disrepair, chaos? How many times had it been trodden, this endless, circling road that would only turn in on its own self until death interrupted it?

And Snake wasn't the first. Chaos was something that only seemed far enough as to encourage comfort. But that would only be for a moment, a waking day that felt like a blink in the eye of time's greater, encompassing clock, and then the world would flip over, would turn inside out, upside down. Zero wasn't the catalyst, not this time. That was how it was. Always. Without Zero, that was how the world seemed to work. Chaos and peace, honor, sacrifice, love and beauty, happiness and sorrow… All intellectual concepts, to differentiate the great plain of the unknown for the sentient races to puzzle over. That was how it was.

Ganon laughed slightly to himself. How early was it?

He rose from his seat, stretched, breathed deep through his nose. Pikachu stirred, sniffed under its breath and blinked slowly, wiped the moisture from its eyes.

Through this, Ganon glanced at Snake.

Still sound… asleep.

Samus poked her head out of the hallway, squinting against the morning's corona-flaring glare, her baggy eyes drooping as she said, "So. You think of anything yet?"

"I was sleeping. Thinking was not on my schedule." Ganon trod over to the nearby table, pulling up yet another armchair and easing himself onto it. His legs, his arms were stiff and numb; next time, he wouldn't sleep an entire night in the same position, in the same hard-backed chair. "But I was, if that is enough."

"Okay," she replied, settling down next to him, folding her arms atop the table. "Do you have a plan?"

Pikachu leapt from the bed, ambled over to Samus's feet and rubbed its head against her knee. She pet it on the head before turning to Ganon, something like fire gleaming in her eyes, the coals there like pinpricks of the sun.

"Yes, I do. I've been thinking about it, actually, and there's no other way."

There was silence, thick and imposing.

Then Samus said, "Can you show us?"

More silence, unbidden by the harsh glare of the morning light filtering from above and reflecting across the room.

"Yes," Ganon said, finally. "But I can't tell you, not until I show you…"

Samus sighed, rubbed her forehead with her hand. "Okay."

Ganon rose, the ache in his muscles now apparent as his arms and legs twitched in discomfort, and gestured for Samus to follow. She looked up at him, the glare in them still burning bright like spotlights. There was a moment, frozen, opportunities and words lost in a meaningless, nonexistent wind, and Samus rose.

The warlock approached Snake's bed, the coffin, the dusty, blood-soaked mausoleum for the soul trapped inside. Bile was rising in his throat, and he swallowed once, twice, but he could not dispel the stone lodged in his heart, the painful bite of the Triforce in the back of his hand. No. This will work. We have nothing else.

Without thinking, Ganon wrapped his hand tight around Samus's. She staggered, tried to pull her hand away. Pikachu threw sparks from its cheeks, some dissolving in the floorboards, others streaking through the air like incandescent streamers.

"What the hell are you—"

"Samus. Wait. Just, wait. Bear with me."

Ganon bent over Snake. With his head this close, Ganon could feel the mercenary's heartbeat, his warm, salty breath that smelled of… decaying flesh, crumbling bones and muscles. Don't think about that, no, don't you dare—

Ganon placed his other hand, the one with the Triforce, the one than even then burned so fiercely, on Snake's forehead.

He could discern a flash, a flare of superheated energy that outshone the natural light that bathed the rainforest and threw everything into a palette of white, then into a blur that sifted through the rainbow and settled on black, black and dark violet…

Then, the world changed.

XxX

They were standing on a black plain, smooth like obsidian. Crushed, burnt foliage littered the world that lay in a charred skeleton before them, melting into nothing as the last of their dying ember floated away onto the ghostly wind that whispered in their ears.

Samus immediately let go of Ganon's hand.

Pikachu was next to her, straddling her pant leg. It growled, for the air was charged, and something floated in the space around them like a specter, a phantom… And the Pokémon could still hear its cries, and the unfeeling menace spoke in languages unknown, and the backdrop for its words was a low moan, a spike of anguished noise that made Pikachu's hackles stand on end.

"I'd like an explanation," Samus snarled, turning on Ganon.

"Ask, and you shall receive."

He turned his back on them. The cold wind, the whispering voices from a different, darker dimension, ruled by an alien ruler with only hate and anger in his heart—

He must have lingered longer than he thought, for Samus grumbled, "Get on with it. I'd like to know today, not a week from now."

"This is Snake's consciousness."

Samus stared down at her feet, her hands wringing themselves without thought. "So. He's possessed?"

Ganon nodded. "And presumably locked inside himself by Dark Matter. I thought, perhaps he could think, he could feel. But there was always Dark Matter to worry about. If he has really fought the possession for this long, then… Perhaps he has separated himself from this… parasite enough for an outsider to help him finish the job."

His next sentence was a question, framed with a low growl. "Are you willing?"

Samus grunted, said, "Yeah, I am. But I don't have much of a choice, now. By the way, why couldn't you tell us before this?"

"Matters of the mind are complicated. To get us here, we needed nothing but one central goal. To think of anything else at that time… Who know what would have happened to us?"

"Hmm." Samus knelt, dragged one gloved hand across the obsidian fen like hardened ink and came up with black powder. She rubbed her fingers together, the dust falling like snow stained with the color of a veiled midnight. "I wonder."

Pikachu sniffed at the ground, sneezed and scattered the dust in the face of a fan, set the ashes in motion on the back of a violent storm. It watched them settle far away, meeting the swirling purple of the sky and falling into the blackness of the earth. Its ears stood upright as it scanned the horizon, hopped to and fro gently.

Samus asked, "Ganon… Are these ashes?"

He looked around, said, "I can't say for sure. But I would not be surprised if they were."

Samus rose to her feet, and walked into the distance.

"Do you know where you're going?" Ganon asked. "There are no pathways, no roads. How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not." She stopped to face them, her pistol already drawn from its holster. "But we better start searching for something."

Ganon rubbed the back of his neck. He had fallen asleep last night in long pants and a spare cotton tunic Samus had lent armor, and not even his sword… He had left them near the table; he could imagine his sword, still leaning against the wooden leg…

Briefly, he glanced at the Triforce on his hand.

It was glowing with a dull yellow tone, a shade that didn't match the emerald hue of his skin, and it was almost… strange, off-putting. Though, he should have been used to it now…

Sighing, Ganon ran to catch up with Samus, Pikachu behind him. The whispers, the whimpers of the blackened world around them was their departing fanfare as they trekked further on, as the heat in the air seemed to thicken and stifle their measured breathing… It was as if Dark Matter was somewhere close by, and it was breathing with enough force to be felt—

Then Samus froze, her feet clamped tight to the ground, and Ganon and Pikachu froze too. Out of the corner of his eye Ganon saw a glint slash by the space underneath Samus's head, and stop centimeters from underneath her chin, shining with a gentle lavender sheen.

He turned around, purple magic already flaring in his fist.

Snake was standing behind her with an arm around her lower abdomen, his knife hand right next to her throat.

"Say something diplomatic," he snarled, "before I kill all three of you."

Ganon's thoughts were a whirlwind of insults, brief words of consolation, taunts, and useless compliments. Useless, useless. And he hadn't yet thought of how Snake would receive them. Useless, useless, useless…

He could imagine Zero laughing.

"We found our way into your consciousness, and we mean you no harm. Dark Matter is an enemy to all of us, and—"

"How do I know you're not one, too? Not an enemy…?"

Ganon held up the back of his hand. He could feel the Triforce still burning with an unquenchable flame, wreathed in ancient magic that made his heart beat faster and his stomach tighten into knots, and there was no doubt that Snake could see it.

"If you want me to prove it," Ganon said, still holding up his hand, "I will."

Snake made eye contact with the warlock, and his eyes…

Both of them were blue.

Snake backed away, loosened his grip around Samus's waist and throat. She held her palm against her neck, rubbed and swallowed several times. "I would ask if that's necessary," she said, her right index finger still poised against her pistol's trigger, "but I don't think I need an answer."

"Lucario sold us out." Snake slammed his knife into its sheath as he rumbled quietly, "Sorry. I'm not big on trust. Now you have an idea why."

"Ganon," Samus whispered, turning to the Gerudo king, "how can he appear like this?"

"His thoughts seem to be linear, action-oriented, easy to… understand with the physical senses, I suppose. And were he not in Dark Matter's clutches, this is what we would see him as, in his proper form. No… this is him. I am sure. This is what he believes he appears as, what he sees in himself, and maybe how he would want to be. But," he said, pausing, "I always thought of him as… selfless, without time or space for emotion. That's how we see him from the outside."

"But that doesn't mean he can't feel anything. He just doesn't show it."

"I know."

"Are you two done…?" Snake, or the manifestation of him within himself, looked at both of them, and his eyes spoke of a wordless challenge. "I'd like to know why you're here, inside my head."

"You've done enough. You've fought Dark Matter for nearly all this time, kept him at bay for longer than we could have predicted or hoped… And we fear that it… the strain of it… will kill you. You cannot fight him alone, not anymore."

"You're saying that I'm not strong enough."

"No," Ganon snapped, then backed off. "I'm saying that you are going to die."

Snake looked at the three of them, first at Pikachu huddled next to Samus's knee, then at Samus herself. She caught his eyes with hers, and they gleamed as they glared in equal measure.

Snake said to her, "You don't look very happy to be here."

"Your body washed up on our island. Your eyes were red; your face was gray. The skin in your left shoulder was black, and it was spreading down your spinal column. Just now, you could have had all three of us killed… Look, Snake. Maybe it wasn't your idea. I don't know you; I don't know how this happened. But we have the same problem: trust issues. And," she added with a curling sneer, "now you have an idea why."

"Okay… what would happen if you died here, though?"

Samus was taken aback. Her mouth opened; her lips worked and moved to produce words, but nothing was said, nothing was heard. She could hear an insult taking shape, but Snake hadn't gone that route, and this felt weird, unnatural—

Ganon stepped in. "I used the Triforce to transfer our souls into your conscience, your… own heart, as it would be. We have left our tangible bodies behind for your spirit, and should any of us fall, well, we would never see the sun again. If you lose, we lose with you." Ganon stared, rapt, at the relic on his hand. "So much put on the line in the name of charity. The Triforce of Power got us here, so it will help us… help you."

"Power…? How could that work, with the mind...? Wisdom would have more to do with it," Samus interjected.

"Power can mean multiple things. Most people take it as power over a kingdom and her people. But, that is not all it has to be," Ganon said. "It took a long while for me to find. And yet, that old lust remains. So be it."

"Okay, great," Snake interjected. "So are you going to help or not?"

Ganon was about to reply when a cold front passed over them, whipping their hair, dashing across their exposed skin and leaving shivers, goosebumps in its wake.

An eye hovered behind them suddenly, but it wasn't Zero. It wasn't Zero, thank the goddesses, it didn't look like him—

But this eye, with its detached voice, said, "You should not have helped. You should not have come. Idiots."

Snake himself tensed, and he pulled his knife out of its sheath. "This happens every damn day," he muttered to the others, "and I feel like this isn't worth it…"

"You have visitors this time," Dark Matter was saying without its mouth, its lips. "Visitors. Do you really think they're so helpful? You, your mind. How long have you fought…? Do you think that, with their arrival, everything will change for the better?"

"Dunno. We'll see."

"Will we?" And if the eye had an eyebrow to raise it would have done so, perhaps with a scalding retort, a fiery insult. "Or will your blind truth push you, once again, to the brink of death? You say you love live, want to love people. Do you? Can you? Zero asks these questions, but I don't think you take them seriously. So, I ask you again. Do you love life, love people…?"

Snake's head turned to face them. He drew out his knife. But he made no move to strike.

Suddenly Dark Matter was upon him, taking the shape of a shadowed human in a flickering instant, its hands like opening nets, its razored fingers like sickles. It and Snake tumbled on the ground, and the sounds of their struggle echoed in bursts of noise and twittering yells—

With a blur like rushing water, Dark Matter's hand burst into a halo of black fire, and even from a distance Ganon could feel the cold, feel the spike of nameless magic drilling through his skull, eating away at the very fabric of his existence—

Dark Matter had Snake pinned to the floor, its one vaporous knee up against Snake's throat. The single eye on its head sparked with white light, and it stuck its clawed hand through Snake's chest, passing through his ribcage without blood—

Ganon and the others stumbled back… If they focused their eyes on the scene before them, they could see the very tips of Snake's fingers begin to dissolve, to melt… His eyes were glassy, his mouth held open as ribbons of black lightning danced along Dark Matter's arm, pierced through Snake's suit and sank down beneath his skin, and even from this distance they could feel it, but they couldn't really because they had gone numb all over—

Ganon's arm was shaking, and the blaring sear of the Triforce cut through the haze, the numbness that surrounded Dark Matter in a half circle. He could sense himself rushing forward, could feel the blood pounding in his ears like a roaring sea of crimson—

Then Dark Matter was gone, blown to ash, and Snake was still lying on his back, coughing and hacking as magical residue danced on his chest.

Ganon came over, helped Snake to his feet.

Snake's face was a maze, a swirling puzzle of conflicts and tumbling howls and nameless ghosts that warred, that screamed and would not relent… His lips were strained, his eyes tight in their sallow sockets. "Thanks," he mumbled.

Ganon nodded, and turned.

Samus's eyes were encased in a violet sheen, and moisture beaded her forehead. And Pikachu's face was like stone, like a statue of marble.

The warlock narrowed his gaze at his hand, as if glaring, angry and howling like a heated, arid wind. Ever since Zero, ever since that possession, ever since that cursed Dark Matter…

"It'll be back," Snake said after a suspended moment. "It happens every day, almost every hour…"

But Snake wouldn't look at Ganon, wouldn't meet his eyes.

Something heavy and knotted tugged at the inside of the Gerudo's stomach, churning it, twisted it every which way. Of all the things he could have done, he had saved them… and then they give him that look…

"So," Samus said, "what next?"

XxX


	25. Iliad

XxX

_Iliad_

Pikachu's ears stood stock still as a gust of wind howled above its head, spiraling into the darkness of Snake's mind.

Well, that was weird… They were in his conscience, and things were actually really confusing…

So, Snake was represented in his own mind the way they saw him in real life? Ganon had said his mind was action-oriented or something, easy to follow in a procedural type of way. Okay, that was alright.

But all this about the mind, these darkened corners of his inner self… Pikachu found itself shivering, even though it really wasn't all that cold. It had fur, and, well… It wasn't cold. This place just felt…

Lonely.

Cold, yes, but not in the traditional sense.

As it watched, the roiling curl of a cold breeze formed into a vague shape, a human-made tank with… legs…? Its legs, heavy-set and grooved with… talons for balance, hovered midair, stomping on an invisible perch, and with it opened its mouth there was a scream, tinny and reverberating with the echoes of shining metal.

And the wraith's scream, ripped from the mouth of a banshee, was cut short as the breeze untangled, as its ghostly limbs faded and as the swirl of flurrying gales moved on, into the darkness that dragged on forever.

When it was gone, another whirlwind took its place, and this one was like a serpent bird, a demon with wings like cones, and when it screamed, it screamed in a roaring, creaking wail of a voice that pierced the endless night, that left Pikachu's fur standing on end. Its eyes gleamed with a harsh cerulean light, but it was artificial, not like the blue light of the sea, or even of the sky…

And this airy beast had a tail, too, a tail that it swung to the side as it angled its wings backward and dove into the ground. A moment before impact, the phantom zephyr veered off and back into the stifling blanket of night, without shape and form.

Pikachu shook its head, cleared away the cobwebs.

Snake and Samus were walking ahead, Ganon between them. They were silent.

It was as if a spider was crawling up Pikachu's back. Did spiders live here? But this was Snake's consciousness; there would be nothing but him and… this Dark Matter thing.

What was that?

Pikachu shook its head again.

None of this made sense…

Dark Matter, apparently, was the thing that was in Snake's mind, pushing himself away from control of his own body. He was locked inside this expanse, this fogged island in the middle of a nameless, formless sea, and he couldn't get out very often… He was stuck inside himself; Pikachu had heard the others talking about this.

Right?

If only the Pokémon could ask.

Trudging forward, Pikachu bounced on his legs and pushed itself over a fallen tree. The bark was black, black like nightmares… But…

Pikachu had never had any nightmares that were totally black. There had been other colors, too, like red and yellow, purple… and blue… Blue was a very, very nice color. Even its nightmares had a trace of blue in them, and that made them a little bit easier to handle.

This bark, though… Totally, completely black.

Why…?

Pikachu leapt forward in one bound, matched its pace with the others. If only it could speak, open its mouth and ask something, anything…

Dodging between Samus's churning legs, Pikachu darted ahead of them, ducking underneath a clawed wind that ripped at the space above its head. The sound the gust made was like ripping paper, and Pikachu could imagine it: a knife, chopping through paper with a tearing sound that reminded the mouse of rushing water, cutting flesh—

Pikachu let out a whimper, barely a choking rasp in its throat.

Where had that come from…?

And now that the Pokémon thought about it, this place was really cold. And dark. The ground smelled of mildew and mold, and for some reason… oak trees.

Oak trees…?

Those were the trees they had outside the Mansion…! But, then…

Why?

If anything, it should have smelled like death, if that even smelled like anything. People who are dying don't have a particular smell… Unless their legs and arms are rotting, or something.

But it smelled like oak trees, and the scent cut through Pikachu's nostrils regardless of what the electric mouse thought. Fine. Fine.

Something gave a low twang in its fur-coated breast, and it felt… Weird. Yet somehow, it worked. Pikachu could see it, and in humans, things like that were signs of… emotion.

Yeah. That was right.

It thought back, and what it saw were tears and angry faces, yelling with all their might and shaking fists at the moon. The moon.

Why the moon?

Pikachu shook its head from side to side. The moon didn't do anything wrong. In fact, the moon was always quite pretty… All white, and silver, and beautiful as it hung in the sky. How could anyone come to hate the moon? Would one hate the color white, or silver? Too plain, too bright to handle in such a darkened, misted setting like the night sky…? That was the only conceivable reason…

The Pokémon didn't see it until it happen, didn't see the space in front of it turn from black into a multitude of colors, colors that seemed to stretch backward and pull Pikachu's body headfirst into them—

It felt a swirl of the world around it, like it was anchored to a realm that resisted its grip, that tried to turn away and revolt—

Pikachu was suddenly somewhere different, somewhere unlike the darkness of that mind, of the world that had been shut away, restricted from all others.

It was enlightening, in a way.

XxX

Pikachu looked up at the gray facial hair of a man, standing in spurred boots of leather, twirling a gun with one finger. He said something, and his voice was deep and raspy, words falling out in smooth, collected bundles. But Pikachu couldn't hear all of them; the wind that had suddenly burst to life in the room lit by bulbs and glaring lamps had drowned out everything else.

"By the way, you got an optical disk from President Baker, didn't you?" the man with the whiskery hair had spoken again, and he turned to face… someone, strapped upright to a table, naked from above the waist.

And the person tied down said, his growl low and quiet, "What if I did…?"

The whirling tide in Pikachu's sight receded into the blank sea of nothing, and it could see again, could better take in details… It could see the captive's eyes, blue shining like electric beacons… He had a headband around his head, and his brown hair stuck out from underneath it; he was clean shaven, and Pikachu could see his cheekbone like chiseled marble—

Snake…?

But—

"Is that the only disc? There's no other data?"

Snake's reply was a question. Yeah… He always had a weird habit of repeating things in question form, sometimes. "What do you mean?"

"There's no copy? If not, that's fine."

The rest of the conversation was blurred, and Pikachu wasn't really paying attention. Its mind had wandered to greener pastures, traversed rough, empty grounds in favor of somewhere else… Nothing here was of much concern…

Pikachu jolted itself back.

Wait. Why was it here? Why was Snake here? Who… who were these people they were talking about…? This President Baker person, and a random woman named… Meryl? And shouldn't they have seen Pikachu by now? The Pokémon was in the middle of the room, sniffing and looking to the ceiling, blinking and moving, and it was a miracle that no one had said or done anything—

Maybe it wasn't really here. Maybe all of this was an illusion, a masquerade that was meant as a trick. It would force the Pokémon to believe in a different reality, and soon it wouldn't know left from right, up from down—

Pikachu was brought back from its straying thoughts by a series of electronic beeps, and a scream.

The Pokémon yelped and jumped behind a supply box as curves of white lightning speared through Snake's bare chest, dancing on his skin and illuminating the bones beneath: the arched spine, the unhinged jaw. He was yelling, neck arched to the ceiling as he strained against his cuffs and it hurt to look at, it hurt so very much… But what could Pikachu do, what could it do but hide and wait—

The mercenary's howls faded into gasps, gulps of air as the gray-haired gunslinger nearby stepped away from the controls. "How did you like that?" The man asked, a strange gleam shining in his eyes. "Shall we go again…?"

Snake didn't reply; he was holding back his whimpers, his moans… Pikachu could barely hear them, and if it could barely hear them, then this strange man hurting him wouldn't be able to at all. That was good, because Snake didn't like to be seen as weak—

There was another series of shocks, of the muted, sharp voices of steaming machinery as electricity seared through Snake's blood once again. Pikachu could imagine it: the numbness, the feeling of losing everything but feeling only a fraction of it and that fraction would all be pain; the sensation of being lit on fire but not really… Pikachu had been somewhere like that before, and only Samus's timely arrival had—

The time flew by, and it was all Pikachu could do to keep hidden behind this stack of boxes, all it could do to keep silent… Heat was rising to its cheeks; any second now and it would have to leap out from behind its barricade, light flashing from every inch of its fur—

Snake's screaming cut off abruptly.

The buzzing of gears, circuits followed suit.

A shadow had fallen over the room, casting the inhabitants in robes of darkness, enshrouding Pikachu, blinding it… And after a minute, it could only hear its own heartbeat, its forced, stuttering breaths as its minute heart hammered.

Somewhere in the darkness a red eye with a white pupil flashed, and Pikachu crept back as its spine tingled, tail limp behind its legs. Don't see me, please please don't see me—

As the hovering eye turned to face the mouse, there was a sound like breaking glass, the thud of heavy objects clashing together in a hail of sparks.

Pikachu was about to leap forward, and it could see itself screeching and slashing its tail down, unleashing the energy in its cheeks in a supernova of glaring light, when something rushed from behind and grabbed it by the scruff of the neck. Pikachu could see the eye still watching the spot where it'd been, even as the cyclone of colors spun in reverse, pushing him out of this strange room that smelled of metal and cold sweat—

It landed on something soft and leathery, tumbling on its striped back and breathing like it had been punched. Close, so close—

Ganon's hand was still gripping Pikachu's fur; it could feel the roots of its coat straining as Ganon pulled back. "What in the name of Din were you thinking…?"

Pikachu jumped away, landed on its feet and faced the others.

They were still in Snake's consciousness, because everything was still bleak and dark and black… The imagined earth still smelled like oak trees and there were ashes in between its strands of fur and its paws. It wanted to say something, to tell them that it was an accident; it didn't mean to and it never wanted to in the first place, it was just walking and suddenly that had happened, and it had to watch as Snake was _tortured and there was a red eye somewhere—_

But it didn't say any of this, couldn't.

Pikachu merely whimpered.

Samus knelt down, patted Pikachu's head softly, running her calloused fingers in between his ears, through his fur. "I don't think Pikachu's to blame. Just move on. We're no closer to finding out how to dispel Dark Matter, but we will, someday."

The bounty hunter leaned down closer to the Pokémon's face, her blond ponytail twirling in front of her face. In an undertone, she added, "I'm glad you're safe. You had me worried."

The mouse nuzzled closer, wiped its wet nose against her palm and cooing softly. Sorry, sorry, I'll be more careful, and it won't happen again… Please forgive me; I don't like traveling alone—

Nearby, Ganon and Snake were talking in hushed voices, staring at each other intently, fires burning in the coals that were their eyes. What were they—?

Pikachu caught a few words: "Shadow Moses", "Ocelot", and… one more word.

The Pokémon froze, shrugged Samus's hand away as it stumbled off, putting space between it and the trio that remained nearby—

"Memory".

So.

He'd been there, too.

XxX

Somehow, Ganon had figured out how to leave Snake's conscious mind. They needed time to rest, plan… Recover.

Arceus knows they needed it.

When the sound of a washing sea came into focus once again, Ganon, Samus, and Pikachu were all in the same spots as before, before Ganon had made Samus yell in the voice of a raging storm, before Pikachu had felt the first stroke of a cold, lonely finger scratch at its head… The feeling have given it a headache, which was weird because they were in Snake's head at the time and nothing made sense—

And now as it curled on the floor, head tucked closer to its body, Pikachu could see Snake's body, still lying prone on the bed, bandages stained and odd-smelling… But his breathing was easier, gentler and flowing, almost natural.

Samus brushed a stray strand of crusted hair from over Snake's forehead and muttered, "Well, that was an adventure."

"I think we actually may be close to getting Dark Matter out of him."

Samus's head shot up immediately. "Shoot."

Ganon pulled a chair and sat next to the wooden table nearby. He folded his hands and stared out into the tepid forest as he said, "What Pikachu experienced was a residual memory, dug up by Dark Matter and meant to instill fear, sadness, and pain in whoever witnessed it. By sharing a piece of Snake's past, his burden, Pikachu may have just inadvertently given him strength, and maybe…"

"Okay, so we know that. Dark Matter brings about pain and horror by bringing up flashbacks to the past. But…"

"You thought he already moved on?" Ganon asked. "I'm assuming you know that his life ended in a circle, terminated with a simple end. He should have died after repelling his ghosts, forgiving the demons he fought, and seeking forgiveness from those whose lives were ended because of him."

Samus shrugged. "Yeah. That's about it."

"But that isn't, is it? Because," and here Ganon shifted in his seat, wiped his hands over his dusty thighs, "Snake has learned to hate, to love, to feel. He's learned to be… human. And with humanity comes the desire for something better."

"So, you're saying that a part of him may be clinging on to hope for another chance at life, and this is what Dark Matter is hinging upon…?"

"He may have learned to hate, love, feel. But most of all, he's learned to hope."

"Yeah, okay." Samus leaned back, rubbed the back of her hand over her drooping eyes. "What do you suggest we do?"

Ganon stared hard at the swirling surface of the polished table. "If we can somehow access a memory and… lure a form of Dark Matter out so I can work magic with the Triforce, then… We may be able to fix this."

Leaning closer, the bounty hunter whispered, her voice shaking, "That's fine. Then what if there are no more memories to access?"

"That would only be because… Well, by then, he would be dead." Ganon explained, "Dark Matter does all the work of finding flashbacks for us. We need to get back inside his mind, and then the plan I laid out will work."

"Let's hope it will," replied Samus.

Ganon nodded. "Hope is all we have."

In the corner, Pikachu's ears twitched, and if it focused hard enough it could see Snake's face, still in sleep and dreams, stretching in pain as a voltage like lightning cut through the bone, his body drifting away to where they couldn't find him again.

Pikachu shook its head, ears waving and bobbing.

No.

They'd find him again.

And Zero wouldn't know what hit him.

XxX


	26. Nullify

XxX

_Nullify_

That night, they tried again. Ganon held Samus's hand and put his other hand over Snake's head; Pikachu tagged along…

And they were back in his mind, standing amidst mounds of ash and broken logs and timber planks as the scattered air sprinkled black dust on their heads and in their hair. Pikachu began to shiver; Ganon's hand burst into a halo of dazzling white radiance that blew away the nearest pile of cinders. Samus's hand immediately went to her pistol, and she drew it out, pointed it into the void that stretched on in front of her.

They were still in the same place, still with the same cold breeze that went in every direction, but the whispers, the voices that drowned Snake in their own misery were… quieter. Gentler.

As if something had changed from the last time.

Snake was already waiting for them, knife drawn. "Is this going to be a pattern…?"

"Yeah," shrugged Ganon. "We might as well make it one."

"We need to lure Dark Matter out in the open, somehow," Samus chimed in. "Maybe through a memory?"

Snake looked at both of them, his hand clenched tight around his knife. His blue eyes narrowed as he grumbled, "You ever thought of why I don't tell many people about that…?"

"What, your memories…?" And Samus stepped closer, until she was standing nearly toe-to-toe with Snake. "You're not the only one. I don't mean that your pain is nothing compared to mine, but what I am saying is that, well…" She shuffled on her two feet. "All types of pain may be easier if you have someone close by to share it with."

"The moment you get in my head," snarled Snake, "is the moment I get bullshit like that. So what if I don't trust you…?" His rage surged forth in a wave that swept over them all, that made the constant whistle of wind mean nothing. "I suppose you'll just use that as leverage to do something else. Who knows? I sure as hell don't."

Samus half-groaned to herself, let her shoulders slump. "Fine, don't trust us. But… we don't want to mess up your past, make it seem like something it isn't, or wasn't, or whatever…"

Snake glanced between Ganon and Samus, fingers dancing along the sides of his knife's hilt. "Sure. Sure. You wanna see it that bad, huh…?"

Ganon stepped forward. "Do you want Dark Matter gone, or not?"

"Does it matter? We'll all get there anyway." Snake threw his hands into the air, gesturing with his knife at the bleak sky, and where there had once been nothing were arcs of pirouetting, twirling auroras, toned in shades of purple. "This is what Dark Star looked like. Sam, you weren't there. So how can you understand…?"

At that moment, if Ganon concentrated his gaze behind Snake, he could see a shadow, long and wide as it hung over Snake's back like a lingering specter with nowhere to go, no one to see in the afterlife… A ghost that was doomed to wander the earth forever in a state of constant suffering… It wouldn't rest, not until the very world itself ended in a hail of fire, a rainstorm of comets—

Was that really how Snake felt…?

Ganon could see it now: Snake's gaze, in their reality. It always glinted like hardened steel, and he spoke the way he looked.

But he had never been outright with his anger, with his hate… He would always look to something else, go and distract himself with another activity. If someone asked about his… life, Snake's reply would be shallow, indifferent.

But this was his mind. This was different.

Anything was possible.

"Ganon," Snake was saying, "are you really that distracted by all this…?"

"No," the warlock replied, rubbing the plates of armor on his chest. They had come prepared this time… Hopefully. "I was merely wondering about the state of your being. Actually, I suppose you could say that."

Snake exhaled, nostrils expanding as air rushed through. "Yeah, sure."

To his right, a burst of energy sprang to life, sucking in the damp chasm of Snake's mind and spitting a different scene back out… It was filled with color, red like the sunsets they saw back home, tinged with pink from the twisting ballet of the cherry blossoms as they fell to the white flower field below…

Snake swallowed and said, "You wanted a memory."

Ganon and Samus exchanged a glance. This scene looked… peaceful, too serene and quiet, as if they were looking into one of the only such moments in Snake's life… Did they really want to… ruin this…?

"You aren't going to ruin anything," Snake said, and there was a note of something harsh, acidic in his words. "Zero already beat you to it."

Ganon's right hand drew his sword out, Samus checked her pistol, and livid sparks flew from Pikachu's red cheeks. Snake flipped his knife over in his hand, once, twice, then sparred with the air.

Ganon was the first to enter the vision, and as the others followed, the spiral of a portal began to shrink into a single point, and then there was nothing left of the place they had departed from.

What surrounded them now was a bitter, clouded evening, the sky tinged a deep crimson by the bleeding sunset and accented with a snowfall of petals. A carpet of white flowers danced at their feet, swaying to the beat of a soundless song. Further on towards the edge of the horizon, they could see lines of gray stones stretching on, reaching into the sealed world beyond.

Graves…?

"Snake," Samus said, voice a mere whisper, "can you tell us anything about this…?"

"No," he replied.

"Why not?"

"I don't need to. You'll see."

With that reply, he stood underneath the wide boughs of a nearby blossom tree, propped his shoulder up against the bark as he stared at a nearby grave.

And there was another man squatting by this selfsame tomb, clad in a black dress suit with a handgun lying next to his feet. And… there was another man with a faded eyepatch covering his right eye, his leather trench coat sprawled around him. The two men stared into each other's faces, muttering softly. Both of them resembled each other: gray hair, striking eyes that lost no luster with age…

"Snake," Samus whispered, glancing quickly at the two men, "which one is you…?"

"The one in the suit."

"Okay, but who's…"

"The other man?" Snake sighed, drawing a hand through his hair. "That's… my father."

Samus turned away, swallowed audibly. "Big Boss…?"  
He nodded.

And they all fell silent as the memory of this legendary soldier, Snake's dad, breathed his last.

The Chozo bounty hunter watched the younger Snake with her eyes narrowed. There was no reaction from him; he merely stared ahead at the enfolding scene before him. "I would ask about all of… this, but I feel like I won't get an answer."

"Just wait," was his simple reply.

"Snake, you've said that plenty of times, and I still don't understand who you are, why you are the way you are—"

"I don't need to repeat myself."

They stood together, Snake and Samus shoulder to shoulder, Ganon and Pikachu grouped close nearby.

Sometime later, a swell of heat cut through the darkening evening, and the moisture in the air melted, dissolved into the clouds high above. Samus could feel cracks forming in her bottom lip as the atmosphere turned arid, shifted into the swirling sands of some distant desert.

The older Snake held out his hand, and a petal settled in his hand.

At the same time, the "real" Snake charged forward from underneath the tree and collided with an invisible figure, standing tall and strong amongst the gravestones in a haze of heat. They went down together, tumbling in the flowerbeds and scattering petals.

As the others watched, the form Snake had tackled grew an outline that thickened with each punch, each tangled kick and shove of an elbow, until they could see its clawed hands like scythes, its gleaming, scintillating skin that glimmered with shades of violet and black—

Dark Matter shoved Snake off and slammed a fist into his face. Snake turned his head to the side as he grunted, and then it was his turn to shrug Dark Matter off… They both rose onto their feet and lunged for each other, rushing forward and scattering flower heads in their wake. Their limbs flew and collided, their movements whirling together into one single brisk blur of motion. First Snake had kicked, and then Dark Matter had dodged, returned with a kick of its own—

Snake stabbed his knife into Dark Matter's stomach, and it went stumbling against a nearby tree, huffing and blinking its one eye rapidly. It moved its head as Snake pulled back and thrust forward again, pushed him away and lashed out with its fingers like curved swords…

Snake cried out as blood burst from his chest, and the world around Ganon flickered into a realm of colorless meaning that meant nothing, and a wave of ice spread through his blood, froze his limbs in place.

Don't fall here, don't fall, for yourself, for us—

Snake recovered himself, wavering on his feet and jerking as lightning flashed along his skin. He bent his knees, wiped a careful hand across the spittle dribbling down his chin.

Dark Matter rushed, hands brought back behind it as Snake extended his knife.

There were more blurs as they made contact, more lightning-fast kicks and punches. Dark Matter hissed, and in the next moment Snake ducked and rolled to the side as Dark Matter's leg _became an extendable blade of shadow_, and it stabbed down where Snake's head had been a fraction of a second before, cutting through dirt and leaving a deep scar amidst the blooming flowers—

Snake got up quickly, held up his arm to block a punch. They moved together, blurring in a whistling cloud of petals and dust. Somehow Snake moved so he was holding Dark Matter's arm high above, and he stabbed his knife through its breast once, twice, three times… Ink spurted out from the wounds, and Dark Matter staggered—

Snake kicked him away and Dark Matter came to rest against the base of a tree. Flower petals stained black alighted on its ragged, torn chest, swirled around him in a cyclone of a breeze.

"You think you know pain, you think you know people." Dark Matter's voice was soft. "You don't. Not now, not ever. Not until you take to heart what Zero says. I won't ask why you do this. Love… your idea of it, is something I do not know…"

Snake, breathing hard and massaging his cut abdomen, leaned closer and replied, "Don't bother trying."

"Zero says nothing is everything, everything is nothing. We… we do not understand how you can find meaning in any of this. If… pain is all there is, how would you make something else out of it…?"

Snake planted a kick in Dark Matter's one eye, and it screeched.

Samus came up, aimed her gun at Snake's back. "Wait. Don't you dare."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Snake turned around, hands a blur as he disengaged her pistol and threw it, useless, at her feet. "What the hell do you know?"

And for the first time Samus saw rage burning in his eyes, saw acre after acre of untouched wilderness ravaged by a fire that sparked, glistened with blue and black and purple there in his irises. He pointed his knife at her chest. "You haven't seen me bitter. But I've learned how. People tell me I'm a hero. I'm not, and I never was. Heroism suggests perfectionism. That's not who I am. Not always."

Snake threw his knife down, not in front of Samus but into Dark Matter's kneecap. Its shadowy form flickered as Snake said, "You wanted my trust, huh? Well, this is a hell of a way to get it."

Samus growled, bent to pick up her pistol. "We told you we weren't going to ruin anything. You said yourself… There's nothing left to ruin… You let us in. You knew we were looking for a memory, and you let us in."

Snake was about to reply when Dark Matter got up in a blur of shadows, fluid and mobile as it grabbed the back of Snake's head. It threw him to the earth and kicked him aside into another tree. Samus dashed forward, knocking Dark Matter away as she slugged him in the face; she could feel its coagulated blood like hot poison coursing down her knuckles—

She shook her hand, globules of Dark Matter's lifeblood covering the flowers below. It was then, with Snake still on the ground, that she recognized the type…

They were… stars-of-Bethlehem.

Snake… Snake had them, in—

She shook away the memory. Focus, focus—

Howling, Dark Matter struck forward with its sharpened fingers, and Samus whirled to dodge, slamming the grip of her pistol into the back of its neck; she could feel its insubstantial skin parting slightly before her attack hit home, before Dark Matter stumbled away—

And it froze, suddenly, surveying its surroundings. Snake, lying still on a bed of torn, twisted flowers. Samus, standing proud, eyes narrowed as she flicked her gun back on. Ganon, stepping out from underneath the shadow of a tree's branches with his Triforce piece shining like a celestial star with Pikachu snorting and snarling at his side.

Snake got up, dazed, holding his side as blood seeped through. Dark Matter must have nailed him with its blade-leg or something—

In a flash, Snake had reached out, pulled his knife out of Dark Matter's leg, but it kicked forward, slashing down Snake's chest for another time. Snake came away with his knife in his hand and blood on his chest…

Samus jolted away, away from Snake and the others as Dark Matter ran forward, claws aiming for Snake's face. He met the phantom head on, but his knife was immediately yanked out of his grasp—

And then, Dark Matter yelled, voice gurgling, "You will never understand. You won't, you won't, you won't." It slashed Snake's chest again, and he stumbled back as Dark Matter advanced. It said, "You say you don't cling to your memories. Yet how was it so easy for me to dig through them, bring them back to the fore of your mind so they could haunt your dreams, give you nightmares you would never forget…?"

Dark Matter sliced the air over Snake's nose, and Snake inhaled sharply, choking as his eyes flashed red and holding his face in his hands as he bent double… "I never trusted anyone," he could be heard rasping. "I never…"

"So do these people give you a reason?" Dark Matter darted forth, and Snake barely shifted out of the way. It lashed forward again, and Ganon saw five angry slashes trace down the length of Snake's arm. "Do they, do they…? No, they don't, of course they don't." And if the demon had any more breath in him he might have laughed… But none of them, no one under Zero knows how to laugh—

But Ganon shouldn't have worried about that, because Snake was trembling, and his outline appeared to be getting fuzzy, distorted like through a curved window—

The world around them was slowly creeping towards black, gray, and as Ganon watched the very corners of the farthest trees, the farthest gravestone began to dissolve into the void, into an abyss that would go on until the end of time—

The warlock rushed Dark Matter, sword held in front of him. The rest of the world was a hailstorm of blows, of whirling hands and twisting limbs that clashed with his sword in a violent squall that jarred his arm…

Something happened, and in a flash of movement Ganondorf had lost his sword; it was embedded halfway through a nearby tree…

Ganon burst forward with his fist pulled back, ignoring the sudden drop in pressure around him, ignoring the blast of hot, empty wind that pulled at his cape and rustled his armor, focusing only on the aura of light that surrounded his hand as he thrust it into Dark Matter's chest. It sank to Ganon's feet as the Triforce on the warlock's hand gleamed underneath Dark Matter's skin.

There was a sound like an explosion, a shockwave that blasted outwards from Ganon and Dark Matter in a supercharged wave of pure heat, illumination brighter than any sun, any faraway star or constellation. The light lingered in the air, passing harmlessly through the gravestones and trees but scattering petals and uprooting flowers as it sent Samus and the others careening backwards, flying into a thick, stifling darkness that seemed to go on forever.

XxX

Ganon awoke on his back, resting upon the floor of their jungle cabin and sweating profusely as the last flickers of lantern light faded from the Triforce.

He sat up, and his spine immediately protested, creaking like wood and griping.

Samus was lying on her face, grumbling and groaning into the floorboards. Pikachu huddled next to her, shaking its head and thumping its tail against Samus's hair.

And Snake was still unconscious, lying on the bed and breathing through his nose. But…

Ganon hastily rose onto his feet and strode to where Snake lay.

Blood still coated his chest, but… But he was breathing fine, and his ribcage was expanding; his lungs must have been working fine, good, good. And his skin was turning back, gaining a healthy flush and pulsing with life…

And his eyelids were flickering… Ganon caught a glimpse of the blue, the startling blue like the sky reflected, in his two eyes.

He opened his eyes and breathed deeply, focusing on the pattern of the ceiling, the sun's light as it tumbled and fell onto his covers, the floor, and the others.

When he spoke, Snake's voice was creaky and dry; he hadn't used it much, but he was speaking and his eyes were blue and that was all that mattered—

"I'd like to know how the hell you did that."

XxX


	27. Perennial

XxX

_ Perennial_

Snake splashed water over his face, rinsed the salt out of his hair and wiped away the sweat, the dirt, the blood that had dried in a shell there. His chest twinged in a bolt of fire, a splash of lava, but he could breathe just fine, if a bit shakily… There was always a taste like liquid metal in the back of his mouth that never went away, but it was fine. It could have been worse for him, could have meant so much more than just… well. It could have meant—

He shivered, but that was only because of the cold… Nothing else.

Snake could see Zelda's face now. It was scarred, bumpy and stark against the smoothness of her eyebrows and slender ears, but it didn't matter. None of that mattered, because no one would care about her appearance when she was saving lives… But that was so long ago. It felt like that, at least. He hadn't heard her voice in a while, and his chest felt suddenly painful, more so than normal…

Sighing, he limped to the bed, sat down heavily and dragged a towel across his face, rubbing underneath his chin and at his eyes. It came away wet and smelling of mold.

Snake fumbled for the glass of water on the dresser nearby. A knife dug itself into his temple and he closed his eyes, massaging the side of his head. He leaned back, let go of the cup and plopped back on his pillow. The pain had never completely left, and he'd wake up every day feeling like he'd been trampled, with every limb numb and his head left as a swollen balloon.

He could hear something from the door: footsteps, tapping lightly. For a moment he could imagine Lucario walking through that door, his even gaze scanning his environment for allies, anything of interest… He had been walking through with a potion that time; it'd helped while it lasted—

Snake shook his head. Don't think about that, don't you dare…

And then he thought of how saltwater tasted, of how it stung, burned him alive as it drowned him in the same hand… It didn't even have to try; Lucario had knocked him off, though, so it was his fault—

Zero.

It was all Zero's fault; of course it was, damn it—

When wouldn't it be…? Everything now was his damn fault, and that damn halo of his. Like he deserved it, like he deserved a say in how people lived their lives and how they were exposed to suffering—

But Snake wouldn't show it. That would give Zero something else to latch on to, and it better not happen again, damn it, not right after the Dark Matter inside him had been expelled, hopefully for good…

The footsteps came closer, and Snake felt something in his chest give a twang as icicles settled deep in his spine, as his muscles tensed.

Slowly, he opened his eyelids.

Pikachu had leapt up on the bed and was rapidly blinking its eyes, nuzzling his arm and making gentle cooing noises. _Whap, whap, _went its tail against his bedsheets, and its eyes shined softly in the early morning light. A bubble of spit popped out from its mouth.

Snake sighed again, slowly scratching the top of Pikachu's head.

And then Samus was suddenly in the doorway, arms folded as she leaned against the doorframe. Her face gleamed underneath the gaze of the strained sun. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah." He didn't know what to say, and in his mouth was a host of questions without words, what was he supposed to do… And if he had one more moment of life he would have called "awkward", this would have been it. This would have been it, without question…

Samus stared down at her feet. What was she supposed to say to the man she had seen the inside of, the soul that she had seen up close and personal…? She'd gotten into his head, seen who he was, and he didn't really have any choice because of Dark Matter… So how were they supposed to talk normally, like friends, comrades?

Snake's next words cut her free from her daze. "You know what I'm thinking," he said.

Samus snorted. "If it's anything like what I'm thinking, then sure."

"Really…"

She said abruptly, "I want to know what happened that day, the time in the cemetery."

"Why?" Snake asked. He sat up a little straighter, still running an absent hand through Pikachu's fur, the mind in each of his fingers having drifted away. "I had the feeling that you'd forgotten."

She sighed through her nose. "No. I didn't. I wouldn't. Which is why I'm asking now: what happened that day…?"

He turned his watchful gaze to the window. "I went to the cemetery that day to kill myself."

Samus started: he'd said it so… matter-of-factly, he just… he had just come out and said it directly… "Why…?"

Snake laughed then said, coughing slightly, "You'd be here all day."

She didn't press, didn't want Snake to elaborate… Who was she to barge in on this man's memories, his fears, his regrets, the scenes that gave him nightmares that he never talked about…? And suddenly, imagining herself on the edge of the known world, far away from everything else and all the people she ever knew, was easier than before… She shivered, and said, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable. You deserve some rest, after all of that."

He said nothing.

After a few minutes, Samus couldn't stop herself. She said, shifting on her feet, "Is there something about what I said that made you…?"

Snake shook his head. "You just… reminded me of someone I know."

"Who…?" Samus rubbed the tips of her fingers together, and she still didn't know what to say… The conversation was trailing off, falling into an abyss, and Samus didn't know how to save it.

Snake didn't say anything. Okay, alright, sure, if that's how you want to be… We don't have to talk, to vent if we need to.

"Samus."

She looked up. "Yes?"

"How did I get here…?"

"I'm assuming someone tried to kill you."

He only looked at her.

She walked closer to his bed and began to speak. "You could say this is a dream, but there's always a part that's real. Make no mistake. People only wash up here when… when they're put between life and death, when they have unfinished business, something they want to accomplish. Ganon wanted to finish something, as did I."

"Pikachu, too?"

Samus nodded. "It was with me at the time, when Zero first came."

"Why?"

At that moment, Samus felt like slinking into the shadows and hiding underneath her covers. No one would find her there; they'd forget she'd ever existed. That was what she wanted, because this… This…

"We ran away from Zero."

Snake regarded her with something like glinting metal in his eyes, but it softened just a bit, melted in the sunlight's glower. Just a bit, so he still looked… stern and imposing, face like granite, but less so. And he said nothing, kept his mouth shut as he watched Samus carefully.

She continued, "We tried, Snake. We tried, but he didn't show any sign of stopping. He lit the mansion on fire, killed half of us before we could blink, had most of the others possessed a moment after that. We got together and hid. Later, we figured that running would be better than… dying and leaving no one behind to figure things out…"

"I know," he said, nodding.

"But he got us, anyway. Someone shot Pikachu with an arrow—"

Snake twitched and his fist closed itself, a vise trapping the bedsheets that he gripped in one hand…

"—and someone stabbed me. I don't remember anything else. We washed up here after that, took care of ourselves. But we've done fine so far. We built this place, explored the island… Other people have come and gone, and they never stayed forever…" Her voice trailed away.

"Who were they?"

Samus hated it. Her head burned, and she had to bite her lip just to prevent herself from screaming in rage. They had gone, and they'd never come back. Zero probably got them, and a whole lot of good their heroism did…

"Sam…"

She shook her head, tossed her hair. "Yeah. Ganondorf, as you've seen. Me, Pikachu, Link, Ike, a few others… Most of them moved on."

"Sam, Link tried to kill me. Judging from the stuff you've said, he tried to kill Pikachu, too."

"Then he must have fought it first. Maybe he nearly got killed during his first possession and then came here…"

"… And then got possessed again. Sure."

They both stared at each other, encapsulated in total, absolute silence.

"You ever thought of going back?"

Samus said, exhaling huffily, "Yes. But…"

"Don't worry about it."

She went silent.

Suddenly, Snake spoke out, his gravelly voice cutting through the quiet, mute din of ghosts, specters from the netherworld. "When you said you know where we are…"

"I mean… We've been here before. Some of us have, at least. If you'd gone with them, you'd know immediately."

Snake shrugged Pikachu aside and stumbled out of bed, hand reaching out for the table. He bent over as he breathed shakily through his nose, sweat beading his brow, muscles twinging. Underneath his bandages, his chest rose and fell in jerking stutters. "Show me."

Samus hustled forward to his side and threaded her arm underneath his shoulder. The weight of his body made her joints creak, but she wasn't going to say anything. No, she wouldn't. She didn't need to. He didn't want to know, didn't want to listen to her tell him, didn't want to hear about how weak he was, how he needed rest—

She kicked the door open, careful to keep Snake balanced, don't let him fall—

And they were instantly surrounded by waist-high ferns, the stern glare of the sun, that flaring orb hanging in the sky as it shimmered in white and orange tones, appearing as a crown of fire tipped with gold. The trees standing tall around them were like beacons, towers that pierced the sky with their branches.

Ganon was standing outside, leaning on a nearby fence. He turned as he heard their footsteps, the dragging of Snake's feet across the dirt. "Don't go too far. We haven't explored fully."

Samus nodded, continued on their carved trail and pushed through the undergrowth. Around them, the jungle sprang awake as birds leapt into the sky, as the boughs heavy with leaves shook with a roll of thunder, howling tempests. Something… dark moved in the bushes, dashing off into the thicket proper.

And as they trekked on, the sounds of a vibrant forest mingled with the constant roar of the sea, straining against its bonds as it surged and fell back in rhythm.

They were at the shore, their feet sinking ankle-high into the sand, the tears of the ocean's misted vapor drifting into their noses, their eyes. Waves danced in seeming joy, rising to the heavens and only falling once they felt their proud backs grow weak, once their own weight had brought them crashing down into the mass of watery bodies that surrounded them.

And suddenly Snake was dragging himself up this very beach once again, his chest submerged in a feeling of… nothing, a painful, stinging nothing, and it was Lucario who had knocked him into the water, but it was actually Zero's fault, really—

Snake coughed once, blew a shaky gust through his mouth, and ran a tongue across his teeth. "Why'd you bring me out here, again…?"

Samus turned around, her back facing the outreaching hands of the water, shifting Snake with her. She turned her head to the sky over where they had come from; Snake followed her movements.

They were looking at the top of the island: a ring of colored clouds circling around the forested hillock at the center, dyed with the fervor of the rising sun. Valleys cut through the plain around it like lightning bolts across the earth's ragged skin, drilling down into the darkness of the underground.

"Do you see it?"

Snake raised an eyebrow. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"This is the Isle of the Ancients."

XxX

"You saw that light in the sky, didn't you…?"

Samus and Snake were sitting against the same pine tree, their backs propped up against the bark as they listened to the gouging hands of the sea, scraping over the sand. She leaned in closer, wiped a streak of hair away from her eye. "You were there. When we defeated Tabuu a while back, destroyed Subspace the first time. We were on that cliff, watching the sun set over the sea, and we never saw this island return. The island couldn't be recovered; there had been too many Subspace Bombs…"

"So why is it here?"

"You know the history here. Nearly an entire race of sentient beings was wiped out; the only survivor came with us. Remember?"

Snake nodded. "Are you saying that the island has… unfinished business, itself…?"

"Maybe." Samus let her shoulders fall, her back slouch. Her breath came in short gasps as she said, "All we know is that the island is now a gateway between life and death, dreams and reality, the surface world and… Subspace, Dark Star, whichever."

"Zero, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah." She wrung her hands and muttered, "But if you wanted to return, you could. The center of the island has a dormant Subspace portal we can use to get you back to Dark Star."

Snake asked suddenly, "Why didn't you take it?"

She looked him right in the eyes and said, "If you fail, then… Someone needs to be able to back you up."

"I know."

But there was something about what Samus just said that bugged him deeply, nibbled at his core and stirred an uncomfortable whirl of intangible feelings like leaden weights in his heart. Snake shivered, and the bare skin on his arms and stomach shook. He rubbed his chest slowly and winced. "You can wait. I don't think I can."

"And why is that?"

"Zelda and the others… may be there already."

It was as if a shaft of electricity had discharged down Samus's spine. Heart racing, hands shaking as they clenched themselves at her side, she said, "Who else…?"

"Kirby and Ganon. The rest are…"

"I know, I know." She rubbed her arms together and rolled her shoulders. "I know what happened."

Snake turned away and focused his gaze on the center of the island, the hill like a slumbering beast that sat still in the middle of an overgrown forest, a wood of unknown beasts and shadows that seemed to cover everything in the ashen aura of a funeral. The sun had retreated behind a bank of clouds, hid its face from the watchful eyes below. "Hard to forget, huh?"

He brushed his knees, ruffling the black cargo pants he wore. He tilted his head back as frost gathered in the air, clustering with the absence of sunlight on his skin.

A twinkle in the branches above him caught his eye. He extended an arm, palm open to receive the… thing as it sparkled and tumbled into his hand… Snake felt its frigid surface almost immediately, could see the brilliant specks of glitter dancing along its ridged edge.

A Crystal Shard… here?

Samus said, "I've never seen that there before. Maybe it was recent."

But what did it mean? Why was it here, of all places? Why wasn't it in Dark Star, or even the ruins of Ripple Star, or the Mansion, or some other star of Ribbon's world…? These shards had nothing to do with his world, with Snake's life. And yet, here it was, staring him down with a gaze like a shining star, his reflection playing on its surface, the color of his skin, bandages twirling and leaping along it. Why… Why?

Why did he deserve this?

If anything, Ribbon should have been the one to find it, seeing as she was the one with the Crystal and all—

But this was a part of that Crystal, and…

What if this had been? What if this had recently been a piece of Ribbon's partially completed Crystal, and somehow it had broken again? Someone, or something, had come along and destroyed the Crystal before destroying—

He shook his head to himself, growled to himself under his breath. No. Don't think like that. They'll do fine without you, no matter what you think, or see, or do… They'll be alright. If someone tries to mess with them, they'd fight back, regardless. Unlike someone Snake knew, unlike that damned dog that betrayed them, that tried to kill him because _Lucario was scared, boo hoo, you asshole_—

And how would the others take this?

He had never noticed, never felt the pain that had twisted through his chest whenever he thought of the others, of Ribbon and Addie together, fighting for something, for each other… For Kirby, who may have felt something that wasn't really clear to Snake, and for Zelda, who wanted freedom from the very world she had come to love, freedom from everything that Zero stood for—

But of course, Lucario had to ruin it. What did he think about? What did he want from life? And… what did he want to fight for? He didn't want to give his life for… well, life.

But then…

What?

What did Lucario want?

"Snake, you alright?"

He must have been staring off into the distance for too long. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered, brought himself toppling back down to the forested earth. "I'm fine. We can go back."

Nodding, Samus got to her feet and rubbed her eyes. She walked over to Snake, supported him all the way back without a single sound. There was something that told Samus to leave him alone for now and not ask any questions, to give him some time off to himself and his own thoughts.

After all, she didn't know how many breaks he'd had.

XxX

Snake was lying in bed underneath his covers, Pikachu snoring close to his chest. He could feel its gentle heartbeat, a miniature soul flaring and fading in cycles next to him in its shell of fur. Warmth sank into Snake's breast, easing his muscles and pushing air through his lungs in clean sweeps.

Even as he began to drift off, he could never shake that pain, that nagging sensation of burning at the base of his ribcage, nestled slightly above his stomach. Had it been pure luck? It must have hit one vital organ, at least… Had Lucario even been aiming for a killing blow at all? He knew that Snake wouldn't go down with a simple kick into the ocean; it was common sense… Snake had been through far, far worse than that. And Lucario knew. He wasn't that stupid.

Of course, things could change. Maybe Lucario really was incredibly dim-witted and Snake had never found out.

How was he to know? Snake could no longer ask him, couldn't huddle with him in the corner and exchange doubts and secrets with him. He was gone, gone with Zero and Matt and everything else because he had chosen to do so, and how was Snake supposed to get him back?

He snorted to himself, careful as to not disturb the golden ball of fluff that lay curled next to him.

He didn't want Lucario back. He could stay gone forever for all Snake cared.

But Zelda…

How would she take it?

For that matter, how would the others take it? Would they be happy to see him again, or would they share Snake's anger and indignation? Lucario was with Zero out of his own free will, just so he could live without the doubt and the empty fear of death hanging over his back constantly… Maybe he didn't realize that the only way to live without this fear was to face it, to turn its back around and make it retreat into lands far unknown.

They would fight Zero, and if they went down, so be it.

But Lucario didn't get that. He didn't get that, after a certain point, one hits rock bottom, the very deepest part of the world that one is faced with, and the only way to go then is up. Who gives a damn if you break a bone or two?

Snake closed his eyes, softly and slowly moved his hand away from Pikachu's shaking body. Was it dreaming…?

He shifted carefully and was asleep a moment later.

XxX

The first thing he heard in his dream was, "I told you."

And Snake was back in Ripple Star, with its red skies like blankets of hovering lava, with arcs of red blood that cut through the fabric of the atmosphere and left weeping wounds in their places…

He was lying on his side again, and his hands were tied behind his back. The first time he couldn't feel anything because of the arrow wounds he'd taken, and then right after that… Zero.

Zero. The first time, Zero had drawn out his whip, scored marks down Snake's chest and over his face. If Snake could only move his hands now, then he could feel the raised bumps all along his chest, and then there was the large one from his shoulder down to his hip… He could imagine it, even in this bleak dreamscape, could feel his blood rushing down his head and across his front—

And now Zero was in front of him, sneering. "I told you. None of this was worth it. You wanted to protect others, but look at you now. You can barely handle being with four or five other people, and then you wash up on that island. You wash up, and suddenly there are more people to take care of, to look after… More people for me to kill."

Zero slammed his leg into Snake's chest and kicked his prone body backwards, and Snake had to tell himself through gritted teeth that this was only a dream, only a dream, and that morning would come soon—

"Oh, but they're looking after _you _now, aren't they? I bet that feels good, to rely on others you may never see again, to feel like you owe them something. Well. Well, I feel like you owe them everything, but sadly, your life doesn't amount to enough. If only it were a fair trade, but as it stands… I don't see why they toil away for you, worrying about whether you'll live to see the next sunrise. I don't mind."

Snake pushed himself onto his knees. He didn't want to bow, don't bow. But what choice did he have…? He wasn't going to stay on his side again, lying down for Zero. No. That was out of the question—

Zero kicked him again, and this time Snake felt blood erupt from his nostrils. When he recovered his senses he was on his side again, his nose swollen as warmth dribbled down into his mouth and underneath his chin. Don't lie down, damn it, _don't lie down for this son of a bitch—_

Zero leaned down and grabbed him by the neck, lifted him off the ground. And then Snake couldn't breathe, his eyes were fluttering and he couldn't stop them from doing so, and his hands had never felt so useless ever, and no matter how hard he tried the cuffs linking them together would not give…

Slamming Snake against a nearby pillar, Zero crowed, voice loud enough to shatter glass, "Look at you! You cower in front of nothing! You cower in front of the grass, as if it might wake up one day and end your miserable life! You, love…? Pathetic, and I don't know what else to add…" He smashed Snake's face into the pillar again, then again, and said, "Love is nothing, you are nothing. I may ramble, but I tell the truth, and nothing but. When this is all over, your devotion will have meant nothing. Nothing!"

Zero threw Snake to the side, and suddenly the whole world was afire with pain and agony and the blinding blood that choked him, that covered his face—

"Remember the people you left behind, with the vain hope that they might make a future for themselves, that good fortune would follow them for the rest of their lives? Remember… Otacon? Campbell? And who was that young girl you… raised? Blond, had a knack for your human technology? Was it… Sunny?" Zero spat, "What a _truly lovely name, truly_—"

Don't talk about her, don't you dare, her name doesn't deserve a place in your disgusting mouth—

Zero hauled Snake up onto his knees, _don't kneel, damn it, damn it—_

Maybe Snake hadn't really been paying attention, but suddenly Matt was there in front of him with his sword in his black hand of vapor, and then he was swinging it down Snake's chest, and Snake could briefly remember screaming…

His sight faded, drifted away from him, and as he lost consciousness he felt himself falling, falling into a troubled sleep that could have lasted forever, and he would have never noticed.

XxX


	28. Eolith

XxX

_Eolith_

Snake snapped to and rose from his pillow, breathing heavily. Pikachu was still curled up next to him, and the early morning glared in his eyes, cast a glow about the room that bathed the floor, the ceiling in a sheath of bronze.

Coughing slightly, he rubbed his forehead and stared at the ceiling lying so mutely above, without movement, without force. Its color was a dim gray, even with the glare of the minute morning sun spiraling about, clinging to the paint and pirouetting along its smooth surface. In the solemn space that spread itself out in a square around him, he could see Ganondorf sleeping on the floor, hands folded behind his head. Samus lay next to the wall adjacent, her legs tucked underneath a furred blanket.

It was then that Snake noticed he hadn't smoked yet. In fact, he hadn't smoked in a long, long while, in a span of time too great to count on his hands. Something shivered down his spine and made his arms shake. He didn't need a smoke. Of course he didn't. He had… better things, higher priorities to worry about at that moment.

_Snake, this is a non-smoking f-flight…!_

No, no, Sunny, not now—

And he felt the quietest gust of air pass through his lips to wash over his face. Of all the times, of all the things Zero had to bring up, he had to bring up Sunny. Where was she? Was she doing okay? Otacon. Otacon was taking care of her, making sure she met new people, did new things, and had the time of her life so she wouldn't remember the pain she felt after losing someone she loved… She had a friend now, one she met in the nearby village that one time, and maybe they were together even now—

He held his breath to himself. If Zero had touched a single hair on her head…

But where the hell would revenge get him? He couldn't just… barge in and expect to just kill him and be done with the whole damn thing—

But he deserved it so, Zero deserved it for being an irredeemable idiot, for taking advantage of others' faults and turning them into… monsters, and he deserved it for taking his anger, his fear, his pain out on others. No. That wasn't how things worked. That wasn't what anyone wanted. They didn't want to feel his pain forced upon them… Maybe they'd want to understand—

Snake felt his chest fall and a spike of molten metal settle in between his ribs. He dragged his hands over his face and stretched his neck left, right, left, keep it mobile. But he couldn't even do that without some sort of pain, some measure of discomfort—

And he looked around the room once more. Why had they bothered to sleep out here…? They all had beds in different rooms; they didn't need to sleep on the floor… He had nothing to fear, nothing to worry about if he was going to be staying in bed all day, resting for God knows what…

A shadow next to him seemed to jump out, and Snake turned his head, followed its movements, and for a brief moment that made his heart leap in bursting stutters, he saw a red eye and the gleam of a halo like the sun shining out from the corner. And if he concentrated hard enough the shadow was holding a whip, covered in blood and marked with thorns that cut like iron, he knew because that's how they had felt, that's what they had felt like when they had been cutting into his skin—

Snake wrenched his gaze away and focused on the open window, the morning's dusky warmth wrapping his face in leaden light. He had never remembered the morning being so dull and gray, and he hadn't remembered the sun as being so lifeless, so flat, either—

_No. Don't think about that, don't—_

"Snake," Samus said abruptly; she was awake and was suddenly at his bedside with a glass of water in her hand, and she was staring right at him, why, why… And it took him a moment longer to realize that he was shaking, he was sweating all over, and why, why… It was Zero in the corner, that really was him; why hadn't he noticed any earlier, and they were all screwed—

"Snake," Samus snarled, turning his cheek so he could see her face, see her glistening eyes, "focus, focus. Look at me. Don't think, look."

And he did. He looked into her eyes, and they were the same as his: blue, electric blue, run through with currents of an unquenchable energy; it was like looking in a damn mirror—

She placed the glass down on his nightstand, continued to stare Snake down. "When you feel up to it, please, please, drink. Everyone needs water."

He closed his eyes, breathed deep, meditated. Damn it, damn it, he hadn't done that in so damn long. Hadn't it been part of his training, so very long ago? Other than exercise…?

But he could still see Zero, even with his eyes closed, even with the measured cycles of air throughout his abdomen… _One, two, three… _How was he supposed to not think about Zero if everything around Snake was Zero's fault, even his new life, his own existence, damn it… _One, two, three… _He was everything, he was nothing, and if the two were connected then how the hell was this supposed to work—

On the third try, the third exercise, he let his chest fall, opened his mouth and forced his breath out of his lungs. His eyes didn't open; he wanted them closed forever, so he could at least partially imagine Zero gone.

But Zero was still there, always, and whether Snake had his eyes open or not didn't matter to that damned asshole, not at all… Zero would kill him in his sleep if he wanted… No, he wanted Snake to suffer, that was it…

He opened his eyes, stared at Samus. "Sorry. I must've woken you up."

"Don't worry about it." She sat next to him on his bed, careful not to disturb Pikachu. "I've had my fair share of sleep these past few… weeks."

She didn't know how long she'd been here; the times just kind of dragged together, and Snake could relate. It felt like days didn't exist, and then it was night, and then it was morning, and sometimes the day would be split with something "exciting" and maybe a visit or two from Zero here and there—

Snake breathed through his nose, ignored the pounding in his chest. "What was I doing?"

"I heard you yelling in the middle of the night. I woke up, saw you saying things to the ceiling. I haven't slept since." But there was nothing in Samus's voice, nothing that meant anything. "I dozed off a few times, but never really went back to sleep."

"I had a nightmare. Zero… Zero was there."

"I know," replied Samus simply. "You were shouting his name. And I…" Whatever she was going to say faded out just as quickly. But, she picked herself up. "I wanted to help; I just didn't know how."

"It's fine," Snake said. "It's over now. Don't worry about it."

She glowered at him, eyes luminous. "If you have anything to say, you can. You don't have to feel like you're keeping things from us. Which, maybe you are. I wouldn't know."

And then Snake was lying on the floor, watching as Matt hovered over Ribbon's prone body with his sword extended, as Zero stood somewhere nearby with his whip in his hand, and then Ribbon was nearby and she was talking to him even though he could barely hear her, and then he could see himself dangling between Addie and Lucario, weak, feeling useless, like nothing he had done ever mattered…

He shook his head vaguely.

No. He didn't want to say anything.

"I'm fine," he said again.

"Suit yourself." Samus rubbed her hands together violently and got up. "I'm going for a walk. I need the fresh air."

Snake shrugged. "Do whatever."

She met his eyes once more as she walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her and making the walls rattle. Snake could hear her stomping footsteps descend down their wooden porch as her curses and growls faded into the misted morning.

XxX

Countless mornings blended into afternoons, afternoons into nights. The moon waned, the sun rose, and each passing day was quiet. The island's wreath of seawater was a blanket with faded edges, fringes that drifted far off into the unknown, into some distant plane where time didn't matter, where the passage of each moment was marked with nothing.

Snake sat on the edge of his bedsheet, massaging his side and rolling his shoulders. Somehow the others had managed to get his Shadow Moses suit cleaned and repaired, and its coarse fabric stretched against the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest. Sure, it felt like he was being strangled, but the pain was almost gone… There was just a slight discomfort now, and he didn't know who to thank for this…

"Snake," Samus said, walking in with her pistol in her holster, her hair tied up in a neat ponytail, "we're leaving. We'll get you back to Dark Star."

"'We'? Don't you mean me?" He had a new stun knife and an extra paralyzer pistol Samus had given him. No bullets, no explosives… But he would make it work, and he didn't need someone to tell him how. He got off the bed and replied, "I don't need anyone else."

"Yes, fine. But you'd need an escort."

"And why do you think that is…?"

She glared at him. Lately, she had been getting quieter, a lot less talkative… Then again, she was never one to blab. And she was the one who had asked him about keeping secrets… "We've been here longer than you have. Don't deny our help."

He sighed to himself. "Right."

Then Samus was right in his face, her breath against his as she whispered, "I don't know about you, but we don't want you dead, captured, or otherwise hurt. I have a feeling your goals are the same as ours."

Snake turned his head to face the window. "Yeah. But they're a bit… broader than yours."

Tightening her belt and adjusting her gloves with lithe fingers, Samus replied, "If you think you can get away with being some fairy-tale hero tagging along with his band of friends and defeating Zero that way, I have a lot to tell you. You need backup, someone to take your place. You need provisions, weapons. This isn't something where you can just waltz in with only your skill and expect to live. It's not about saving lives, not about changing the world. Zero is the only thing we should be worried about now."

"Have you lost anyone yet?"

"Yes. I have. They'll come back."

Snake all but stopped in his tracks, right where he stood, and he could have masqueraded as a statue and people would believe his disguise. "What? They're dead, and if they're not dead they're possessed, Sam."

"Ganon did some… meditating here. He thought about things, and he said… He told me that if someone were to defeat Zero and remove all traces of Dark Matter, it would be like resetting a computer. Anything after the point of reset, anything after Zero's arrival would be deleted, erased from existence. So, Zero and his army would be gone, as would anything that happened because of them. Dark Star, the Mansion burning… The people who've been killed would be brought back, and the possessed would be returned to normal. In the end, Zero would mean nothing. And you…"

It was as if the world had stopped in orbit, frozen in the grander scheme of time. Nothing made sense, but there was no pain, no pain and only a maze that led further into the void that was the beginning, the end… There was nothing, and in the middle of Solid Snake's heart was a hole, raw and gaping, exposed to the cold that was slowly working its way into his chest, stealing his breath and sending spikes of frost through his numb limbs. "What about me?"

"You'll disappear permanently, and, well…"

"And what?" _Oh, look who's keeping stuff away from me now—_

"… And none of the things you did here will be remembered."

Underneath his glove his fist clenched, and the feeling of nothing was suddenly overwhelming; he stumbled back slightly, the heel of his foot hitting the bed as that same shadow in the corner seemed to laugh, and laugh, and it would not stop laughing; it didn't even know how to laugh—

"We'll remember who you are, but… Just, just from the third tournament. Anything you went through here will, will…"

Whatever Samus wanted to say was cut off. She closed her lips tight, would not open them even as Snake stared at her with unblinking eyes, a stern gaze with eyebrows leveled.

"And all the people I've met in this time…"

"…will forget you, too."

Snake said nothing for a long while, and Samus felt that silence weighing her down, setting leaden boulders on her shoulders. If only none of them had known, if only Ganon hadn't thought about this and told Samus, if only Samus hadn't gotten the urge to tell Snake about this. If only—

Why…? Why couldn't any of them have anything to themselves, why couldn't they choose to remember these things… Ignorance was bliss, maybe, and it would be bliss if they forget everything they have seen of Snake after the last tournament, wouldn't it…

Zero, Zero, it was all him, and if something had happened a bit differently in the beginning, then maybe things would turn out alright in the end. Maybe everyone would come back in one piece but Snake would be there too, and they'd remember him… Samus would, Pikachu would, Ganon would… But Zero was it, Zero was the reason they wouldn't remember, wasn't he—

"I already knew. I'd thought about it before." Snake reached for a glass on his nightstand, swirling the water inside into a miniature whirlpool. "I knew."

"Have you tried to do anything about it…?" Samus could feel her voice rising, damn it, but none of that was important—

Snake replied, "No. I have bigger things on my mind right now."

She punched the wall, and she didn't try to hold herself back. Why, why, Zero… No, no, this can't be real, we can't afford to forget, ever… "Snake. How… how can we hope to remember you, if you yourself don't… don't try to be remembered?"

He merely shook his head, tapped his foot once, twice. "You want Zero dead, don't you?"

She barely remembered seeing Ganon appear there suddenly, with Pikachu standing close by… Samus could only feel the frenzy that was burning in the center of her chest, devouring her whole. She couldn't say anything; her tongue wouldn't work, her lips wouldn't move.

As she stood in place, she barely noticed when Snake walked quietly out the door, his new knife in his hand as he plunged into the forest. Samus could barely see Pikachu lumber after him, could barely see Ganon's armored gauntlet land on her shoulder, silent as a clear winter night.

What was she supposed to say?

Even then, she didn't know.

XxX


	29. Wayfarer

XxX

_Wayfarer_

The jungle around them seemed to part, a passage in a sea of writhing bodies and tumultuous souls. Trees bent over them in arches, vines drifted in the stagnant wind like tethered banners, countless insects scuttled through the undergrowth as the travelers pushed onward.

And all the while, Samus was lost in thought, biting her lip, fiddling with the settings on her pistol and stretching her fingers out, curling them back in. To the people behind her, she had nothing to say. Nothing that came out of her mouth would have covered it all. Teeth gritted, she kept walking, put them behind you, don't let them catch up—

Snake ducked underneath an overgrown branch, threaded between waist-high brambles. The knife in his hand glinted with the harsh gleam of a sunlit mirror, shining in an obsidian rainbow, a festival of color. And the woods that surrounded his group were a map of silence that returned his own thoughts back at him. But, there weren't many. His thoughts were at the bottom of a placid lake: still, calm, quiet as it reflected the sky's image back up in a perfect likeness.

Zero. It was his job, his alone. He had always told himself that, always said that no one else needed to get involved. But somehow Ribbon, Zelda, and Kirby… All of them had convinced him of something, something he couldn't quite put into words just yet.

But now… now he really was alone. No one else could get involved, for fear of… of everything going wrong at once. How many people had tried? How many people had even bothered to go after Zero? Obviously, none of them had succeeded. And yet, they kept trying.

They didn't know how to give up, and maybe that was part of the problem. If they didn't want to give up… Snake wouldn't be alone.

But…

Snake shook his head. He couldn't, wouldn't let anyone else bother with his burden. This was his job, nothing more.

No one else would—

"Here we are." Samus's voice cut into Snake's wanderings as she said, "We haven't really explored this far, but we have a general idea of the layout of this place."

"So if you know, why don't you tell me?" Snake interjected.

She peered closely at his face. "Maybe it would be more productive if I showed you, instead…?"

Ducking under yet another stray branch, she stopped in front of a vine-ridden wall, their shoots reaching up and into the shaded darkness of the jungle canopy. Leaves forked off the emerald stalks and ended in tight-lipped blossoms, stained with every color of the rainbow. On the surface of the bulbs were splotches of… purple, and black, leathery like curved bat wings. Samus touched one for a brief moment and it drew away from her fingers, jerked in protest.

She took out her switchblade, cut off a square section of the vines… The buds that dropped to the ground below squirmed and fidgeted where they lay, fish out of water, before Samus stepped on them and splattered their insides all over the trodden dirt.

She extended a hand and brushed away the remaining leaves, cobwebs, dead insects from the cleared square. Below the dirt and grime was a panel, a single button with edges of silver and gold and pulsing with every color imaginable. Lines of ancient text written in light wormed their way outward, disappearing underneath that wallpaper of vines.

And it reminded Snake of—

No, not again. He didn't want to think about it, didn't need to…

Samus leaned forward, pushed her weight onto her front foot and pressed her hand onto the panel.

The ground shook, dust rained from the vine-ridden wall, and a portion of the barricade itself slid inward and disappeared, the darkness it left behind collapsing into a tunnel that led downward. From this darkening passageway came a smell of rotting wood, abandoned corners left to collect dust and mold, the chill of a memory long lost and of nameless people left forgotten—

Samus drew back, reached behind and pulled a flare from a pouch at her belt. As she struck it, she said, "Keep an eye out. I don't know how many things have changed since we last came through here."

She extended a foot into the cramped corridor, the spurting light of her flare leading the way.

Knife turning in his hand, Snake stood still, staring at the blooming flowers, the boughs that thrived and dyed the sky with every tone of green, emerald, jade… Maybe they had learned to cope with Zero's intrusion, began to adapt to the radical sensations the corrupted angel brought with him. But they were plants, and plants didn't have any sort of conscience at all. They just fought for life, but not in an intellectual sense… They just, lived.

Ganon pushed past him, followed by Pikachu.

And still, Snake wondered.

Lucario wanted… wanted to be free from oppression, wanted to be able to breathe easily, walk and talk without having the constant threat of opposing death looming over him. Sure, maybe Zero would really kill him regardless of whether Lucario was loyal to him or not, but then… Lucario could say that a part of it would be his fault. His suffering wouldn't be caused by an outside force seeking to destroy his life, to ruin everything he stood for on purpose; it would be because he messed up somehow.

Was that it, though? Was that what Lucario really thought?

Snake shook his head, mostly to himself. He couldn't speak for the Pokémon, and Lucario wouldn't appreciate it at all.

He drew his paralyzer pistol with his free hand and followed the others, trailing in their footsteps. Every sound he made was thrown down a long tunnel and thrown back out in a cascading discordance of echoes from every direction.

Then Samus froze in front of a steel door, the flare's gleam casting a haunting purple light along their faces held in darkness, so they resembled beasts, demons. She put her weight against the door and it slid away from her touch, shied away from her outstretched hand.

A blast of air slammed into them as the door opened, a gust of a blizzard drifted into their eyes, their mouths. Samus's flare was put out as light poured from the open doorway, a light like the glare of lightbulbs: artificial, cold, like they were walking into some sort of laboratory…

They stepped through, huddled close together. Snake held his knife underneath the grip of his gun, Samus twiddled with the settings of her pistol. Pikachu jumped ahead, and Ganon followed. They weaved through stacks of wooden boxes, toppling planks of metal…

Walls, silver steel reinforced with bolts and wire frames, white as the fogginess of lost memories, stared at them with unblinking eyes, sprinkled here and there with splotches of torn, twisted paint. The ceiling was a dome that loomed several stories above them, spiraling in a cone up to the unseen sky with sparkling lights dotted about its rim. Towers of junk metal and scraps fell over themselves, clanking and clapping together to the beat of a ghost rhythm. And over all of this hung that same façade of… cold, a bitter, forgotten cold that had been left to stew in its own remembrances and its countless moments of loneliness…

Lying amongst the hushed concerts of falling scraps and oily gears were rusted spheres, their insides extended outward, their shells expanded to reveal empty chambers within. And if Snake stood there and thought it through, he could see what those chambers had once held: bombs, bombs that cut the world into pieces and sent them into the darkness of a different realm, suspended in time and space.

"We won't be sending you back with a Subspace Bomb. There's a portal here somewhere that has some residual energy left over."

Snake didn't have the heart to remind her that he already knew this. None of this mattered, he was really going back, but maybe he could believe it himself because now Zelda and Addie and Ribbon and Kirby meant a lot, meant more than he could have guessed in the first place, and he was going back because… because he wanted to see them again.

The mission was Zero.

But—

No, Zero. Focus on Zero, and Zero alone.

Trailing behind Pikachu and Ganon, Snake and Samus held their weapons out in front of them, pointing into the corners, eyes darting about the shadows that hunkered over the dormant machines, the conveyor belts transporting dust and litter from ages past. "So where's the portal?"

"Through a few more of these chambers. You'll know when you see it."

They passed underneath another arch, then another, and all the while the walls were bright with dust and grime, and the floor was covered in the bodies of dead insects and vermin that had been left to rot. And the air was cold, cold and reminiscent of frosted nights and snowy evenings, cold that clung to their clothing and ate away at their exposed flesh. Moisture dripped from a ceiling draped in moss, rained from cracks in the subterranean roof. Every twitch of sleeping steel, every fallow sound of the room around them made Snake's head whirl, his pistol and knife raise.

Pikachu scampered along still, its feet plodding through piles of dried oil, forgotten blueprints with edges torn. It bounced around the edge of a crate and cried out; the sound of its cry was an echoing howl that tore through the silence, the quiet noise of an empty hall, an abandoned, frozen factory. Gears long dormant shifted, and piles of metal lay askew as they resonated with that icy, snapping ring of Pikachu's screech.

The others rushed forward, turned sharply around the box and found the Pokémon staring up at the wide abyss of the room before it, gaping at the dormant beast that lay in front of it, its legs curled up underneath it, its behemoth eyes lifeless, its great mouth closed and quiet…

But this wasn't natural. Its skin looked like metal and its legs were like blocks adorned with spikes to find purchase within the ground. And, the head… the wide, square head and mouth looked more like a cockpit of some kind, a place for the pilot to sit between those eyes like beacons…

Atop its shoulder was a single cannon that stretched into eternity, that set Snake's hair on edge even though the machine wasn't even turned on… Just looking at it made his skin crawl, the back of his head tingle. The gun was held on the skeleton of a giant, a behemoth that towered above him and seemed to brush the ceiling it lay under, senseless and unmoving. It had no arms, but it didn't need them; it was massive anyway.

Snake knew what it was. Instantly.

He approached the… tank, pistol pointed directly ahead then shifting to his sides, his knife held at the ready. Of all the things that had ended up here, of all the inanimate objects to fall into the sort of limbo on this island, it had to be this… It had to be, just had to be, didn't it, and someone out there had a pretty damn twisted sense of humor.

Snake brushed up against the corner of a steel table, lying underneath a flickering lightbulb swinging to and fro above. A shattered computer monitor glared back at them with its fractured face of rotten glass, its features having lost since fallen quiet, still as the grave. The blueprints on the table were covered with straight edges, pencil shavings, photographs. And as he gazed into them he could see Shadow Moses Island spread out before him with arms wide, welcoming him into its cold embrace and pinging catwalks of clamorous metal. And with these visions came the sounds of gunshots, cackling specters as they greeted the worn, misted night.

There was no way. No way. Someone, somehow, had made accurate blueprints of this… thing… Somehow.

The title on the blueprints in loud white letters read the name. Snake didn't need to read them; he knew, he'd always known, ever since that freezing night, full of snow and disgrace and blood and death—

Metal Gear REX.

But… No.

How…?

Ganon was gently swiping his hand along the behemoth's leg, staring up at the slumped head lolled forward in a placid quiet. He said nothing, and the stony face upon his head didn't change. He merely stared, felt the plates upon the machine's leg with the tips of his fingers.

Samus was next to him now, the bounty hunter staring at the blueprints in an unblinking, noiseless fervor. "Do you know what this is?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do," Snake replied. "I've fought it before."

"Then why is it here?"

"I don't know. I thought it was destroyed."

"You thought? Didn't you kill the thing yourself?"

Snake sheathed his knife, scratched the side of his neck. "Yeah, I did. I piloted it, too."

Spreading every sheet of faded paper in a fan in front of them, Samus said, "So you're the only one that has any experience with these things. Can you tell us a little about it?"

"The weapon on its shoulder is a rail gun, capable of launching a nuke from almost anywhere on the planet. The warhead would be invisible to radar and wouldn't require a rocket-propulsion system. And besides that, REX has a free-electron laser, anti-tank missiles…"

Samus sighed. "I'm glad you stopped it, then."

Snake laughed slightly. "As am I."

"But this one looks complete," Ganon said, walking over to the table, cape swirling behind his armored back as Pikachu waltzed along behind it. "Somehow someone managed to create accurate plans, start the process for building a new one, and finish it. Now, why…?"

He brushed his arm over the blueprints, scattering dust and broken pencil tips down on the cold floor, the tips clinking against the mildewed metal. And there were other plans scattered amongst the ones for Metal Gear REX, plans for… prosthetic arms, legs… ships, planes, more cannons and guns, countless robots… Ganon shrugged aside crinkled paper balls, more pencil shavings… "The island was destroyed after Subspace but brought back when Zero arrived… The question is… why…?"

"This place has a name, has history." Samus drummed her fingers on the tabletop. "There's no question that the island itself is important. As for all of this… It's an island with unfinished business, and most of these plans haven't been finished, either. So…"

They all stared at the papers, the countless drafts and discarded writing utensils… This island had a past, sure… But where did all of this come from…? Who started all of this, if it was even a "who"?

Still completely silent and lost in a whirlwind of unsaid thoughts, the group moved away from the table and around the Metal Gear. The darkness that stretched on into the depths of this unknown room grew thick, stifling, frozen over and glossed with the passage of time. Somewhere in the miasma of black, chains rattled from the ceiling, invisible machines whirred and hummed, florescent lights skimmed along the metal pathways, the catwalks of iron and steel.

Samus briefly felt her shoulder brush up against something frozen, something that radiated a glacial chill, something so cold and lifeless that she had to back away. And as she backed away the light switch she had just touched clicked on, sending the circuits in the walls into a shrill dancing frenzy. Slowly, bars of light flickered on, expanding farther into the room and cutting through the soundless gloom.

Behind Metal Gear REX was an armada of robots lined in neat rows, their eyes dim and faltering where they sat in corroded sockets, their arms still by their sides. They were all facing the same direction, meeting Samus's wide eyes with hardened, lifeless gazes of their own. Some were missing limbs, others were missing panels and certain wires, but they all held that same glassy look in their eyes, that same blank stare as they stood there like statues, marionettes with their strings cut. There were too many of them to count, and they just stood there, not moving, filling the space around them with ice that would fracture any moment…

Without another word, the group turned and ran into the hallway to their right. Not once did they look back.

XxX

They slowed, found themselves in another circular room, the lights already powered on.

Samus bent over, hands on her knees. "Those robots," she said in between rushed breaths. "You saw what they looked like… And, and there were so many of them, just there…"

Snake scanned the room, taking in the harsh glow of partially melted lamps, the ghostly whispers of another world seeping through the walls, bringing with them the old, sharp smell of ice and blood and metal. The place was a rush, a torrent of smells and clanging sounds newly born and grating, and yet… Something about this place was familiar, brought along tides of memories that had never even existed until now.

_Fighting was the only thing I was good at…_

Snake stumbled, caught himself with a hand on the wall, gripping the cracks inside tightly, his fingers were twitching underneath his gloves—

_… But at least I fought for what I believed in—_

Fox… Fox… Snake pounded a fist against the wall; he could hear laughter, high and loud, raucous as Metal Gear REX's foot descended, as he stood in the corner and watched his friend die—

And later, Naomi, watching her lie on the ground, the syringe cold and dead in her lifeless palm… Otacon had been crying, and he didn't stop for a good long while—

He felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him, trying to pull him from the wall. "Snake. You alright…?"

Nothing he said would have cut it. Frank, Otacon, Naomi, Meryl… all those people, all those memories, and they still thought he was dead… Without a doubt in their mind, they knew he was gone, and they were content with living that way: with his voice and words still echoing about in the backs of their skulls, but with their futures lying ahead of them… That was what he wanted… for them to move on, keep living— And some of them were dead too, so he couldn't bother with worrying about how they felt… They forgave him, didn't they…?

But now, now, of all the times…

He doubted this. He couldn't though, no, no… He could afford to feel this way, couldn't afford _to be bitter like his brothers had been—_

He could feel Zero lurking somewhere, reaching for him with dead hands, jeering next to him… You can't save anyone, you can't… You can ask for forgiveness, of course, but how do you know what people really think…? How? You want life? Stay here; nothing will touch you then. Come, now. You can't change the world. You said so yourself. Do not think for a minute that I will let you live if you come back. You know, you pathetic bug, you wretched insect. You sit upon your throne, your chair backed with lies and the screams of others. You lie. You're nothing—

Zero, get out—

"Snake," Samus was calling, but her words were muddled; it was like hearing her through a jet engine… "Come on, we need to keep going…"

He tightened his fist, dragged himself away from the wall. "Yeah, okay." There was sweat on his forehead, cold like rain. "Zero's nearby."

"I figured." Samus pointed into the center of the room, toward a pile of what had looked like rubble, collapsed pillars and scrap. "Because that's where the portal is."

Above the pile hovered a slight heat haze, bare and exposed, shimmering in contrast with the freezing breath of the chamber that surrounded them. Ghosts shimmered within, their murmurs reaching into the walls, breaching the ceiling and soaring to cover the sun above. Their words were like poison made free-flowing, working outwards in rings of violet energy and spreading their tales of loss, suffering, disaster and calamity to the rest of the world, uprooting the life and light that remained…

Snake gave a start. He really was going back, wasn't he… He was; there was no doubt. Zero, Matt, everything else…

Zero would be there, maybe right there as he passed through, waiting because he knew like he always did. And… what if Zelda and the others weren't there? How would that work? Would he go on without them? Would he even be able to make it to Zero's palace on his own?

And what about Matt? Something about him just… felt off, weird compared to Zero. Snake's chest heaved slightly as his stomach tightened into a knot. Matt's eye was just… less harsh than Zero's. It wasn't red, and there was something about it—

He shook his head. Don't think, don't think about it, just go, you have a job to do…

But the sky there, in Dark Star. It was always black, dark, with those same purple streaks of light like whirling banners untethered. Always. And thinking about it made Snake's arm twinge, his fist clench. No. Just keep going.

He unsheathed his knife, aimed his gun forward as he approached the rubble with slow steps, one in front of the other, careful, careful. Cold like a slashing, snapping blizzard blew in his face, scathing and snarling, and goosebumps popped up on his skin. This felt familiar, all too familiar, and Snake stared ahead, heartbeat going off on its own until he couldn't control it anymore…

It wasn't hard to imagine Zero just standing there, with his army behind him and Matt at his side, with his whip in that frozen, pale hand of his. Snake fought the urge to close his eyes and rest. He needed to keep moving. He could think later.

He took another step, and the floor rumbled, shaking the pile of discarded robot parts and trash.

From behind them, somewhere close by, came the stomping of countless metal feet, the clatter of rusted parts melding into a steam-powered symphony, and the grating metallic scream of Metal Gear REX as it came to life.

XxX


	30. Arbitrary

XxX

_Arbitrary_

Samus urged him on. "Take the portal. We'll take care of REX and the others."

Snake glanced behind him, where the hovering heat haze that floated above the scrap heap was still visible. Cold moans found his ears, indefatigable whispers that droned on, propelled by endless winds and currents. The space around them was already cold, and on top of that there was the aura from Dark Star…

And those skies… Always so bleak and gloomy, always with those blurs of purple light streaking by without purpose or an end goal… Just streaking by, and at that point Snake would have paid money to be able to have that freedom. Doing whatever, going wherever, just wandering with no intention of doing anything at all—

"Snake," Samus hissed, "wake up, idiot, and get that portal open!"

The floor was shaking now, quavering, its molten backbone worn and weary as the Metal Gear stomped and screeched somewhere nearby… Dust fell from the ceiling, and vines waved like earthen streamers.

_If only Otacon were here. If only anyone else were here to make sense of this with me._

He nearly slapped himself. Of all the things he had to think at a time like this… He wasn't sentimental, he never had been, and he wasn't going to start. Pull yourself together, go, go, go…

He couldn't, though… Snake turned, took one step, another, then another. He couldn't. He wouldn't leave them, even though most of him knew they could handle it. They were more than capable, and they were doing this so he could go on ahead.

He really was an idiot.

Snake clenched his fist around his pistol. Get to Zero, find the others. That was it. That was all he had to do. Get to Zero, find the others, and the rest would be self-explanatory… Still, he didn't move from where he stood, glaring sharply into the darkened corners, the quavering floor. He couldn't bring himself to step any closer to the mound of debris. Even with that roaring behemoth and its army of ghost automatons… Even then.

Walls thrummed and crashed inward as the Metal Gear burst forth and let out a bellow that shook the earth below their feet, a bellow like grating machinery. And when it opened its mouth, robots circled around its stocky legs, their eyes aglow, their block-shaped heads rattling on their joints.

Samus growled, "If you don't get through that portal now I will force you through it."

Snake could say nothing in reply. But he remained still.

"You aren't the only one who wants Zero dead," said Samus softly.

"I know," Snake said. "But I'm not leaving, not until we mop up."

Samus would have said something, maybe come up with something snarky and self-assuring, but a robot rushed at her, and it looked so familiar, what with its blocky head and round, staring eyes… So maybe ROB wasn't the only one left anymore—

The robot swung its arm around, and Samus ducked, fired a shot into its face. It froze, shaking, wires popping before Samus kicked it back, leaped over its broken form and into a mass and tangle of buzzing bodies.

And they were surrounded in a swarm, a hive of metal. Pikachu snarled and sent sparks into a knot of them… They faltered, and Pikachu rammed into their midst, energy soaring from its fur. Circuits snapped, loose plates and knobs flew as the Pokémon ran another current through its cheeks, frying another robot with red eyes, grasping hands. As Pikachu shot by, lashing out with its tail and piercing the dampness, the hollowed space of the chamber with lightning, Ganon lunged, sword extended through the back of a robot. He drew it out as Pikachu ran around him, and they ganged up upon a machine with eyes that seemed to blaze with fire, untamed, raw, eating away at the stagnant wind. They dodged as one as the eyes like spotlights unleashed a laser that cut through the earth where they had been… Ganon and Pikachu leapt forward and covered the distance to the robot in bounding strides; Ganon sliced down, Pikachu gave a cry and lashed the air with electricity.

The robot fell clattering to the floor, gears and bolts strewn around its lifeless body. Through a crowd of entangled robots fighting and being thrown about, Ganon and Pikachu saw Samus roll out of the way of Metal Gear REX's clawed foot.

It was surging forward, crushing other robots underneath, ignoring the screeches of harsh metal from its own artificial army and the clicking protests of the other machines as REX brayed to the ceiling above. The air hummed, stretched, and was torn apart as REX tossed its head through a crowd, meeting Snake's gaze with its own unblinking eyes gleaming like sapphire suns.

Snake moved left as REX's foot cleaved into the ground, clearing a band of androids and throwing them into the walls. They crumpled to the ground like spent paper as REX approached Snake, whose gun was aimed forward with his knife held close by, his eyes wide, his chest heaving. He backed up, backed up…

But REX took one step, then another. Slowly, like it was on a morning walk, like it had all the time in the world to wander aimlessly, it trod carefully, every step pronounced. It cocked its bulky head and opened its mouth slightly. Ganon saw no one inside the cockpit, so it must have been unmanned—

REX leaned in closer, almost nudging Snake. Its eyes glowed as it creaked, sputtered in an unknown language, the language that spoke of clashing metal and snapping wires… But it made no move to strike, and neither did Snake. He stood frozen in time, highlighted by REX's gaze like blue headlights. The smaller robots nearby made no move to lunge in. And Samus was off some ways in another direction, still fighting, but the ring of metal bodies that crowded around REX and Snake was a barrier, a wall that fenced off a path to another place, a different time…

With Pikachu nudging his ankle, Ganon lowered his sword, crept around to the side.

The room around them breathed evenly, slowly, as to not disturb the circle, the giant of a machine that held its eyes level to a human's and watched him without sound, without motion.

But there was a voice then, slicing through the air like thunder, and the robots backed away. REX reared and roared at the dome above as words, dripping words like slashing venom branded the still air. _Hello, everyone. And Snake. I see you. Do not think I don't. I still notice you, even now, even when we all know you are below our notice._

Snake glared into the center and at the portal, seemingly glared at nothing. "Get out." His voice was low, his words quiet and cutting.

_You know how cold Dark Star is. Would you really like to see it again? I know, Matt knows, we all know. But you… you don't want to know, but you know anyway. It's all so sad for you. So many bad memories. Remember Galleom? Yes, you do. You saw me that time, and then later Heavy Lobster sent you to Ripple Star. Ah, the nostalgia. I would feel less complete without it._

Snake shook from head to toe, lowered his gun slightly as REX snarled and stamped forward, their wreathed silence broken. The voice continued, droned on, _It wasn't your choice to know, but, well… This is your choice, now. Surrender, and we will make your death quick. Or, don't, and we'll still kill you anyway, but more painfully. You know what that looks like. Of course you would, right…?_

Snake glanced at REX as it opened its mouth, then closed, then opened. It took another step, then stopped.

_I'm done with you. You… you bore me, now._

REX growled, and if it had a recognizable chest it would have rumbled.

_Kill them all._

Snake backed up as REX approached once more, raised its foot with the overwhelming rush of screaming ghosts, howling banshees that could not be heard.

The tank brought its foot down with a crash like distant thunder. At the last minute Snake rolled, but REX swiped its leg to the side. It smashed into him, and the resulting crack resounded off the sides of the chamber, met their ears with a blur as Snake yelled—

He was thrown into a wall with a chorus of cracks, and there he fell, lying still, gasping. REX stomped closer, and the creak of metal, the sound of iron and steel meeting was a drowning din that made Ganon and Pikachu back up several paces… They could not see clearly, but REX was stooped over where Snake had fallen—

Ganon felt a rush of something behind him, something sneaking close to his ear like a wisp. He didn't need this now, not now, not again—

_So much power. So much. You want honor, you want fame, but you want power most of all. You want to feel power in your blood, at your beck and call, don't you…? I can sense it, your lust for supremacy. Embrace it. Conquer it. It is yours to command._

Ganon shook his head and punched the space to his right. A robot fell underneath his fist, gleaming in a halo of purple.

The Triforce in his hand tingled as the voice whirled back and was at his ear again: _Don't deny it. You are nothing, but you want to be something. Maybe, you want to feel something. Pain. Pain is a good place to start. Pain and power, two at once. Perhaps your existence will mean something today. We will wait, and we… We shall see, my precious, insolent, meaningless beast of light and dark._

And Ganon's Triforce flared, bright and hot, stinging his skin as he felt something within his ribcage give way and bulge, his chest balloon outward. He felt his face stretch, his teeth sharpen outward into tusks, long and cutting like razors. And there was a burning in his head as he felt himself grow, as Pikachu scampered to the side, away and into the shadows as his rearing head brushed the ceiling; it felt like he was on fire—

He could feel the beginnings of a roaring squeal tear at his throat and push out of his expanding lungs, and that squeal was a knife that stabbed through his chest… Everything was on fire, and he felt his arms and legs swell. His armor melted, disappeared so he couldn't feel its weight on his back, but that barely mattered, he thought he had this under control, by Din, not now—

_I will release you, demon, my loving, spineless puppet. Bring chaos to the world, and tell them that Zero-Two sent you…_

Ganon screamed again but it came out as another squeal, and his hands elongated and sprouted fur, and then his fingers were tipped with cruel, hooked claws. Something in his head snapped, and the world went dark.

XxX

Samus could feel the floor trembling, could see cracks appearing in the wall. She shoved a robot to the ground and saw its head tumble off its neck. Out of the corner of her eyes, from between the shoulders of swarming machines, she saw Ganon suddenly rear, saw him grow and swell until his hair was flaring in a fiery mane behind him and his body resembled a boar's—

Not now, Ganon, damn it—

Beast Ganon lunged, swiping at a horde of robots that had coalesced around his furred feet. They scattered, mechanical limbs flying, heads severed with their eyes dimming. Ganon brought his head up to roar and faced REX, hot breath coming through his swollen pig nostrils, paws swiping restlessly at the ground. The Metal Gear returned with a bellow of its own, leveling the cannon on its back as it thundered a challenge. And there the two beasts stood, surrounded by heaps of discarded body parts and piles of steaming oil, ignorant of the mortals that stood far below.

Samus jumped in between shadows and ran to where Pikachu was hiding, shivering, fur standing on end. It hissed as Samus stalked closer, pistol by her side. "Pikachu, it's me. Relax. Relax."

Pikachu's breathing calmed. It squeaked gently, and Samus bent over, ran a hand over its head and through its fur. Shivering, the Pokémon glanced up at her and twitched once as Ganon roared once again in the active, roiling backdrop behind them.

How much did Pikachu know, of their struggles, their inner battles that waged a constant war against doubt, that crippling, cold-skinned vector of fear and frozen life? Samus sighed to herself, trying to calm herself, breathe, breathe, even though her heart was pulsing rapidly and breathing exercises wouldn't have helped at that point…

Did it understand?

Samus shook her head, mumbled voicelessly to herself. After all this time, after having escaped a burning forest, flying arrows, and the voiceless screams of the dead that raged at the living, Pikachu would know. And after being lost in limbo, caught in between twin lights that led to different worlds, it would have enough time to think. Of course it would know. It wasn't stupid.

It knew. It knew. Of course it did. Who was she, to think that "lesser beings" like Pikachu wouldn't grasp the magnitude of the moment?

Samus's hands shook. Even though Pikachu knew, it didn't have to be here, watching as Ganon tore the world apart.

"I'll get Snake. Please, stay hidden."

Pikachu nodded, and Samus ran off. She pushed aside the wavering bodies of more metallic skeletons, shielded her eyes against the glare of lasers and shining copper and brass. She focused, rammed through a pack of more robots and saw Snake by the wall. He was rising to his feet, pistol grasped in shaking hands, knife held loosely as sweat poured down his forehead.

As Samus came closer, Snake met her eyes and grumbled, "I'm fine."

"I wasn't going to ask." She glanced around hastily, eyes moving in wild circles. "I don't know how long Ganon's form will last. He had it under control before, but now…"

"Zero." Snake followed Samus's gaze, watched as Ganon slammed into REX, raging and squealing, throwing the walking tank forward into a wall. Pieces of the ceiling rained down upon them, sodden dirt pouring from cracks and fissures lining the walls and the roof. "It's Zero."

"And you're headed straight to him." Samus looked down at the floor then back up into Snake's face, set in hard granite. "Very brave, or very stupid. I wasn't expecting anything else, coming from you."

"That's my mission."

"I had a feeling that was it." She nodded toward the portal, which was no longer surrounded. And as the heat haze caught their attention, a red eye seemed to blink, to open quickly as a voice somewhere hissed and spat. "I guess you could head through now. There's nothing blocking the way, and… I'm not sure if you can do anything about this."

REX screeched in the background as Ganon speared through its leg with a tusk. It wrenched away, taking part of Ganon's tusk with it. He wailed, batted REX away and leapt back howling. REX steadied itself; as it wavered on unsteady feet a light flicked on underneath the cockpit, a light that was only growing brighter by each passing second—

And then the light flew forward in a beam of energy, slashing through the walls and making the floor quake. Ganon stumbled out of the way, growling and roaring as REX's laser rent the air behind him. Leaping high, gathering momentum, Ganon crashed down on top of REX, clawing away at the cockpit, the rail gun sitting atop its shoulder. They tumbled into a corner, scattering sprockets, assorted boxes, and the still bodies of robots into the torpid air lined with unseen feathers.

"Snake," Samus said, messing with the settings of her pistol, "you should go ahead. We'll… we'll deal with Ganon."

"Come with me," Snake replied.

Even as the words left his mouth he knew Samus's answer, anticipated her reasoning before she said anything. "You need someone to… stay behind… If something goes wrong, then… At least we'll still be around—"

The floor shook in wild spasms; REX and Ganon screamed as blood stained the air. Ganon stumbled, staggered back into the wall as chunks of the roof fell around them. Samus dodged away from a portion of the ceiling and dove behind a stack of crates. The giants and their entwined struggle disappeared in a wall of scattered dust and tangled vines that collapsed in writhing, slapping heaps.

From behind her barricade Samus could see Snake sneaking towards the portal, weaving, silently pacing between rubble, chunks of metal parts, and the occasional peek of a slashing claw or a stomping foot. He rolled underneath Ganon's sweeping hind paw, crouched underneath a plank of steel lying on its side. For one brief second, one moment suspended in time, Snake looked back, met Samus's eyes with a single glance framed by fire, gleaming and bright.

And he lunged out to the side, swerving wildly beside one of Ganon's lashing tusks as he dashed toward the portal.

The world flashed red for one second, one wavering moment, and Samus doubled over, fell to her knees with her hands wrapped around her temples. Her pistol tumbled from her hand and clunked next to her, but she could barely hear the sound it made… The waves of resonance in her ears were like smashing hammers, crushing every piece of her inside herself, cacophonies of shrieks, clawing swords that tore away at her and drove her into a bloodied wave… The ground doubled underneath her as burning knives drove themselves into her skull, as the floor lingered and waved in jolting ribbons that seemed to disappear and reform into one—

REX screamed bloody murder in the background, and the low hum of a charging laser cut through the air, thick with unsaid thoughts and struggling minds entwined together, ripping apart the world.

Samus's fingers stretched for her gun; gasping, she clenched a fist, tightened her muscles as she reached out for it. Knuckles tensed, joints wrapped tight around the worn grip. It was one comfort in this wide, red expanse that stretched into forever, a senseless plain of blaring moonlight and circling ghosts like pack hunters waiting for easy prey, it was one thing to keep her connected to her own place, her own time, herself—

_You are all nothing. Stop struggling. It will be easier for you, and much easier for me. Don't bother, don't bother. Maybe I should stop repeating myself, too. But, you know. I guess someone has to fight for something._

Twitching, gasping and forcing heavy breaths from frozen lips, Samus rose, steadied herself against the wall and readied her pistol. She could dimly see Ganon roaring as it blindly swung at REX, the demon boar barely avoiding the searing path of another laser.

A robot, limbs twitching and fleshless fingers reaching for her throat, lunged at her, eyes sparking. Samus fired her pistol, and the robot collapsed on top of her, trembling and shaking. Her arms blurred as she threw it to the side where it crumpled and did not move.

Samus tripped forward and barely caught herself, tried to form words, but they would not come out, they refused to, they hung lifeless on the tip of her tongue and stayed there—

_The plans you saw earlier have been left behind, incomplete. Like the lives of those lost, like the legacies that would never see their end. But none of this will matter. Not when all of this collapses, again. A cycle, repeated, of suffering and loathing, anger and raw hate. It won't end, not with you, not with anyone. Someday you'll all understand. Many already do. But not you. Soon… Soon all of you will._

Another formless blast of sound reared its tenuous head as a wave of quiet pain with no sight, no sound scarred the chamber; Samus staggered, slumped panting against the wall as her joints began to melt… Where were the others, where were they— she hoped down in the bottom of her throbbing chest that everyone was all right, everyone was still hanging in there… She was weakly aware of Ganon, still struggling and flailing as he clawed and stabbed at meaningless shadows, and there was a golden flash of shuddering fur in a nearby corner that must have been Pikachu, Snake was out of sight, and hopefully he was fine, hopefully better than the rest of them; he deserved it for all the shit he'd been through—

Biting her lip, Samus walked forward, staggered around a pallet of boxes and tried to catch her fluttering breaths—

_This island has a lot of… pent-up anger, suppressed sorrow, regret. Makes it easy to channel certain things, like pain. Pain, and emotion, two in one… But you already knew. Still, it's all the more obvious now. Maybe my actions speak better than my words ever will._

In a field of vision dim and narrowed, Samus leaned an arm against the wall, saw Snake rising from the floor, doubled over and stumbling closer to the portal, closer, closer… And as he walked forward, stuttering footsteps moving in static twitches, one of REX's legs slammed down behind him. The resulting tremor opened a fissure that was soon yawning, gaping wide at the falling ceiling as it widened, continued to grow like some pestilent virus, some writhing parasite. Metallic bodies, crates, varied rocks tumbled into the abyss, and still the endless canyon grew outwards, caving into a never-ending darkness…

REX toppled over into it, screaming as it went.

Ganon followed next, mouth gaping, screeching as he fell.

The floor trembled and teetered, flaked away at the jagged edges of the crevice as Samus gripped the wall, stomach tightening into a knot that refused to undo. Ganon had fallen down but that wouldn't keep him for long; he'd be back in a short little while, perhaps he would jump back up to help them clean up the rest of the machines—

Robots clomped nearby, closer, closer, but Ganon would be there to help them out soon enough—

_Puppets. You're all meaningless pawns, moths with no purpose, with the worth of a false monster, a childish nightmare. Goodbye, and I will not see you again._

Samus saw Snake; he was keeping his balance in front of the portal… Through her eyes dimmed and narrowed tight, she could see him standing in place, looking back at her… His expression was blurred; maybe he was happy, maybe he wasn't, but he was just crouching in place and returning her gaze in silence, she couldn't really tell, and who was she to try—

She didn't feel her voice rise in her chest, but she could barely hear herself yell, "Go!"

Now why would she scream that, why, why—

Snake ran forward, clambered atop the pile of rubble just as the pain in between Samus's fluttering eyes made the world pulse and blur, just before the floor beneath her gave out, and just as darkness overcame her.

XxX


	31. Immure

XxX

_ Immure_

Snake tumbled through the portal and collapsed in a heap on smooth, cold ground. Everything was a whirl; maybe he hadn't really gone through the portal because he hadn't felt anything, and he was just dreaming, resting—

But there had been a change, somewhere…

It was colder, so much like a winter sea, and he hadn't really noticed until he had started to shiver—

Gasping, cold sweat trickling down his neck, he glanced back.

The portal had closed behind him, the sounds of screaming rocks and falling earth startled into a cold, frozen silence.

So somehow, the portal had been activated beforehand, before Snake had even tried to enter. His hand trembled as it slid his pistol back into its holster. Someone, something had gone ahead and done that for him, as if it had wanted Snake to move on, to get away. Maybe there was someone trying to play with him, and immediately he felt like punching himself for ever having a doubt on the matter; of course there was someone, Zero had been there every step of the way, damn it—

But that didn't matter, because he really was back. Back in Dark Star, and this was never going to end, now was it…?

The sky burned itself into his eyes, and there it remained: an afterimage tinted black that would not fade. He blinked, blinked again, wiped sweat away from his watering eyes. Still, it lingered, stubborn, resilient, refusing to let go.

He sighed, bit his lip… None of his bones were broken, and it chilled him, glued him to the spot. There had been that possibility, but now…

Hands trembled as he walked, careful, careful, broke free of that invisible grip. If he had sustained broken bones back there, then… Then he wouldn't be able to make it very far without dying, and that would be a real damn shame…

Snake fought the urge to laugh. He really was an idiot.

The black plain around him curved downward, spread throughout with hills and wiry-limbed trees. Black orbs like berries still dangled listless and quiet, silent like they always had, and Snake thought back to Kirby, inadvertently making a fire like violet fireworks, popping and dancing with light footsteps as he poked that wood pile with one lazing hand—

He shooed the thought away, clearing the slate. Think, think about something else, don't dwell on that…

A voice behind him made him freeze.

"I really don't know what to do with you anymore."

Snake shifted in a blink, and he felt the graceful arc of a whip snap right next to his nose. He staggered as Zero stepped closer, and every time his foot met the obsidian earth, Snake could feel something in his chest bubbling. Zero continued, "Of all the things you have to keep pretending to do, you have to be a hero. You just have to. Not the hopeless romantic, not the advocate for change, not even the questioning philosopher. A hero. A hero, of all the other things you chose to do with your new life." And as he spoke he lashed forward so Snake had to keep dodging, had to stay light on his feet, had to not fall on his face because that's what a part of him suddenly wanted to do—

"In fact," said Zero, "you should have a lot more questions. Like, where are the others? What happens to them if they die, and all other sorts of plot-twisty things that exist to confuse? And… have you realized that none of this might be real?"

Snake reached for his gun just as he dashed to the side, just as another whip-lash scored the earth.

"How long has it been since that day, when the world burned to ashes, when you found life again? How many mornings and nights have you wandered the earth, walking your dusted path and tending your sad, lonely little garden?"

Snake ignored him. Dodge, dodge, roll. Snake growled, "Hell if I know. But I'm not going to sit still for you."

Zero pulled his arm back, whirled forward. Snake lunged to the side as a crack tore through the air behind him. But time dragged on, slinked forward, and every moment that Snake spent close to Zero was something… dark, brooding, a cloak that lay listless over his eyes as his arms and legs tired, as his chest heaved.

The world seemed to blur, fade into slow motion, and Snake could now barely discern a red aura flickering around Zero's robe, wrapping around his rusted halo, licking along the sides of his face. He drew his whip back for one more swing, then another; Snake couldn't count them anymore—

He dashed into a black, lifeless thicket, weaved between the foliage with throbbing footsteps. He rolled underneath a fallen log and pressed his back into the bark of a tree. Calming his chest, slowing his breaths, Snake could hear Zero stalking slowly nearby, his steps flat and measured, even as Snake felt his heartbeat grow placid, even as his breath came forth in stutters.

Where were the others, anyway? If Zero was here, like he always was, then, then…

Snake tightened the muscles in his legs, clenched his fists. Be ready, be ready to run, to run like your life depends on it because it does—

He shouldn't have been hiding, he should have been running as fast as his legs could carry him, but here he was, crouching behind a tree, and it wouldn't matter, would it, because Zero would know—

The arcs of time whirled together, and up to this point Snake had lost track… He thought back to that day, that time at the Mansion when Zero first presented himself in a screen of fire, later in Ripple Star when he revealed his true form… He had blacked out, and then… nothing.

But then he'd woken up in Dark Star, with no sense of time, place, purpose—

Snake shook the cobwebs away, focused on his breathing, pressing down the bile in his throbbing chest. He could find time to think about that later. If… if he was still around by then—

Zero called out, "I'm just playing with you. This doesn't amount to anything. If only there were a way I could convince you of that, so you'd stop embarrassing yourself. Thinking you're fighting for something worth fighting for…"

_You've already told me that, asshole—_

"… But you won't listen, the way a disobedient child would misbehave when adults are present. Would it hurt if I told you off? Perhaps I already have, and perhaps you've ignored everything I've ever said to you. I wouldn't know. I'm not you."

And suddenly Zero was next to Snake, the mercenary's blood turning to ice as Zero held a hand around his neck. "You don't know your place. You don't know who you are. You're nothing."

Snake drew his stun knife and stabbed it in Zero's side, sparks dancing along the edge of the dagger. He dug the hilt in deep as Zero hissed in Snake's ear, the angel's frozen breath drawing close as his grip shook. Blood dripped around the knife, trickled through Zero's stained white robe. Snake fought the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as Zero's fingers trembled where they wrapped around Snake's neck, and it was all Snake could do from pulling away, this was the only chance he might get in a long while, a very, very long while—

But then Zero was gone, melted into the shadows of a different world. Snake's knife was left cutting empty air, and his neck hurt; it seemed to twitch as blood rushed through. He ran a glove hand over the skin, felt an angry rash that wrapped the whole way around.

Zero had just… disappeared, without a sign, a noticeable sight… Like Link had, when Zelda burned his face a while back; time really did flow in a weird way here, but that had to have been at least… a month ago…

Snake pulled out his pistol, assumed a combat stance. He almost laughed to himself; if only Big Boss could see him now… But why, why the hell would he think about that now, when Zero was so close, when the world was dark, and when Snake couldn't really see him…

"I see you, you don't see me. That's how things work in life." Zero's voice lashed out from the nothingness he hid in, pattered like a rainstorm with its howling beats, its drumming hands and tumbling fingers left idle to do what they wished. "Suffering finds you when you cannot see it coming. That's how it is."

Snake saw a blur of a shape move through the darkened undergrowth, and then it was gone, gone into the wild blackness of the dead forest. He aimed his gun, but then the rustle was behind him; it was around him, it was moving to the right and then to the left and it was everywhere—

A wisp flew by Snake's ear, and he whirled as he felt the air of its passage. "I could spend so much more time with you. Playing with you, toying with your life. Sometimes I get bored, and sometimes I don't. But you remain, and so do I. So here we are."

Snake crouched, rolled into a set of low ferns. And that wisp streaked above him, and that black shadow blurred close by—

"You stabbed me, wow. You should feel accomplished." For one fleeting moment Zero's body materialized in a bush nearby with his one red eye gleaming, before being swept away on the back of another formless gale. "That should amount to something, shouldn't it?"

Then he was gone, and Snake ran through the undergrowth, careful of fallen twigs and black leaves shriveled into husks.

Snake holstered his gun. He moved a hand to one of his pouches, rifled through the pockets. Just as Zero whisked by, he stopped behind a tree, leaned his back against it. His hand pushed aside bandages, painkillers, and felt his fingers wrap around his Crystal Shard. Warmth sank through his glove, and he held his breath as his chest heaved.

Somewhere close by Zero snarled, and Snake felt the world ripple as he clutched the Crystal tighter. You won't get me, Zero, not unless I have something to say about it—

And there were the others to think about, too. Regardless of what happened, regardless of what came his way, he'd get things to work out—

Snake's chest tightened. He could have been running, he could have been doing something else, and yet here he was, hiding behind a tree and holding a glowing gem. Of all the things, of all the idiotic things he had to put himself through, he was putting his life in the hands of a Crystal Shard he didn't deserve…

Ribbon, I hope I'll get this to you—

Then Zero was looking right at him, having formed from the earthen shadows themselves, a mannequin of darkened clay that reached forward in a blink, a mere streak of a second.

Time seemed to slow, to congeal and turn to shifting, creaking ice as Snake breathed, in, out, in… Ghostly winds rippled, echoed as Zero reached closer; it seemed to take an eternity… But by then Snake had already punched forward, and he didn't realize his hand was warm until he felt his fingers tighten further around the Crystal Shard as Snake slammed his clenched fist into Zero's face—

Zero staggered back, time resumed its relentless exodus, and where Snake's knuckles had met Zero's cheek was now a sheet of snow-white skin that smoked.

Snarling gently, Zero pressed a finger to his cheek, and his fingers came away dusted with white powder.

Before Snake could lash out again, Zero had melted into the shadows, without a word, without a sound.

The shades cast behind the reaching skeleton trees seemed to wail, seemed to cry out, and the dry grasslands murmured out a melody, milling about in a choir to the silent wind.

Snake kept his gun holstered and rolled the Crystal Shard around in the palm of his hand. He moved on.

XxX

He cleared the final line of trees, swatted away a horde of virulent branches. And from then on the sky beckoned with arms opened wide, those same purple streaks still flying about, twirling and revolving where they hovered, flew up, down, left and right. The horizon line shone white, a pearl of silver flattened over the zenith of the earth.

The ground cleaved down into a low canyon, the slides sloping gently down to the banks of a thin river. The water flowed on, free, clear as it wormed its way towards the farthest reaches. Maybe, maybe it went to Zero's palace, maybe it just ended somewhere random—

Snake shook his head, growled low. Maybe Lucario had been lying about the location of Zero's palace; how the hell was Snake supposed to know… If Lucario was on Zero's side they could have been planning that forever, waiting for the time they could strike… And with the way things were going, Snake would never know, not until it was too late for him, too late for everyone else involved—

The Crystal Shard in his hand gleamed, and the warmth traveled up to his shoulder, down his spine. He clenched his fist tighter and kept walking. Put one foot in front of the other; keep going, keep moving, you'll reach the end of something someday, hopefully soon…

As he walked, Snake ran his fingers along the Crystal, his mind drifting somewhere far off. After… after the first time, a long time ago, when Zero had burned the Mansion, when Snake had been brought to Ripple Star, Zero had shown Snake his true form. And then, nothing. He remembered the stinging, burning pain, he'd blacked out, and then he woke up in Dark Star, bleeding, without a shirt or a weapon… And Snake in the present slid gently down the slope to stand close to the riverside, continued his leisure walk alongside the water's edge. How much time had passed between Ripple Star and Dark Star? It had to have been a few months, at least, maybe a year… Other things had happened before Snake arrived. Zelda and Link had fought, Zero had his forces possess everyone else, Lucario had established some sort of base—

Still feeling the length of the Shard with a gloved hand, Snake walked, walked. Even if Zero came out of nowhere again, running wouldn't have done any good. He would have found some way to… inflict pain, or whatever, even if Snake ran as fast as he could…

The Crystal was still warm when Snake rounded a bend in the river. The world around him had faded to an indifferent ambience, pinging off itself, and in the midst of it was the quiet gurgle of the river as it journeyed onward, winding and moving on to whatever awaited it—

Snake could still see Heavy Lobster in his mind's eye, rearing at the lost souls around, batting and waving at the mortals below. Kirby had been knocked out when Heavy Lobster set him on fire. That had been then, but Lucario had been nearby, with a health potion in hand. That was then, and now…

Now was different.

Maybe, if he didn't meet up with the others after a certain amount of time, he'd just go and deal with Zero himself. They'd forget about it after, whether they died in the process or not… Wouldn't they? But in the process, they wouldn't have to worry. They wouldn't have to deal with this anymore. Snake would make it his own mission, no matter what it would take. Nothing else would stand in the way, and if he met the others on the way, then he'd keep going without them…

Snake brought his mind back down to the obsidian earth as he slugged onward. His eyelids were heavy, his limbs were growing numb; the time had flown and blended together into something seamless. The Crystal was still there, still gleaming and shining with something warm, but he kept walking. There would be a time to admire the Shard sometime later, if there was a sometime, if anything would stay the same after all this—

He walked forward, nearly losing his balance in his reverie and falling face-first into the river, but he kept his posture, kept going…

Snake followed the bend of the river once more, swerved around a tree, and nearly ran into something. That something was staring up at him, opening her mouth and narrowing her eyes at him through a screen of raven-black hair underneath a red beret… Scratches scored the edges of her face, and her eyelids were baggy, and she was still talking, babbling, but for some reason Snake couldn't hear her very well, he felt like falling down and sleeping all of a sudden—

"Snake," Addie said, and Snake suddenly toppled forward, collapsing, knees turned to jelly. Addie caught him and lowered him down. She settled a single hand on his forehead, and her fingertips were cold, freezing like fleshy icicles as they brushed away the hair on his forehead.

He wanted to ask something in turn, but his mouth wouldn't work, wouldn't respond. Something in his jaw was shut tight.

It was only when his eyes closed, when the world turned to black that Snake realized how tired he was.

XxX

_Adeleine's Journal: Entry ?:_

Hey there, sorry I didn't put a date on this. I don't know how long it's been since my last entry. And I think… I lost it…? I'm not sure; I'll have to go through my bag later. But not now; I'm writing.

Zelda found me a pen in the Mansion, so I don't have to worry about turning my paintbrush into a pencil or whatever. Kinda lost the will to.

I don't know what to say, now. After all of this, after coming to Dark Star with the others, I don't know what to say. I tried to say something to them, but they wanted to come back. I didn't, and that was that. I left. Simple.

Zelda said Zero was their goal, but I knew. They wanted to see Snake again. Maybe I can see it, maybe I can't. He's just another soldier, isn't he? Sure, he's been through shit, and there's something about him that makes people listen to him without any effort from him, but…

I have a feeling Zelda would hate me if she heard me say that. She's really, I dunno, righteous. And yeah, if I tried to say that to her face, she'd kill me.

I found Snake today. I guess after we left him behind a few… months ago, he found his way here. I'll ask him later. Maybe we can share stories, but then again, he's not that type. I don't know how open he'll be.

But like I was saying, I can't see what would make Zelda, Snake, and the others bond so well. They just teamed together to get through all of this. The more, the merrier. That's what Lucario said to me one day, I think, before we got separated, before Lucario went with Zero. Teamwork, he said, was to unite, but to also provide a safe space to just, practice what you want to practice, do what you want to. That was worded weird. I'm not showing this to anyone.

Anyway, other than looking peaceful in his sleep, Snake looks kinda… almost ordinary, even though I know he's not. He supposed to be dead, too. I don't know their story and thoughts behind Snake, and maybe I should have asked. It's too late now; I'm not going back. I have other ideas for what I wanted to do with my life. It's not like I think they're dumb or anything. I just don't feel like that's for me. Not after all this.

I'm not gonna pull a Lucario, though. That was stupid. Whatever the story was, I think he tried to kill Snake. We never saw him after, or at least that's what the others told me. I was out cold.

Maybe I should have thanked them for that. They've saved my life a lot so far.

But, would I have been in the same situations if I had never gone with them in the first place? I'd like to think that I wouldn't've been… But maybe not.

I'm not going back, like I said. Ribbon was sad though. She was crying, and nothing I said would make her stop. She's like a fountain if you get her started for long enough. So I left. Zelda was pissed, though. I kinda expected that.

Maybe I could have asked Ribbon about Snake. He still makes me uncomfortable, even if he's possessed or not. I know what it did to me. And knowing Snake, it'll do the same thing to him. I don't trust him, but…

I can't just leave him now. He's asleep and I think he needed it. There's something in his expression that makes me feel… almost sorry for him. I don't think he likes being felt sorry for. But I don't know him very well, and I haven't been given many chances to…

Anyway, that was a lot for a single entry. But after all of this, I needed to get that off my chest, kinda like a rant. I don't know what to feel anymore. I guess, I keep going, keep living. Maybe I'll figure it out in the end.

We'll see.

_End Entry_

XxX


	32. Rancor

XxX

_Rancor_

Addie closed her notebook, sighing and biting the top of her pen. Her thoughts strayed, dragged along into the river and swept away with the current.

Well… wasn't the whole part of the writing-in-the-notebook a thing because she needed to vent, she needed something to distract herself with…? And yet, she was still thinking about it, constantly, always with that nagging feeling in the back of her head. Even though everything was so depressing, she still had to think about it. _Still. _Maybe because Snake was still here, and maybe because she couldn't actually get over it no matter how hard she tried… Because, because that just wasn't a possibility.

She tousled her hair, shifted her beret.

What would Zelda think…?

What would she have to say about this? She'd probably go nuts. She'd probably get angry and she wouldn't be able to cool down without someone else helping her cope, or managing her anger. In that respect, she was the same as Zero, always venting her anger out on something else, a volcano about to constantly burst at the top. But, maybe she was better, because, well, she just was. Then again, anything was a possibility. The world itself was a possibility, of nothing and everything, of countless, faraway stars that were somehow still tethered to the mortal minds on the earthen surface…

Addie fought the urge to open her journal again. Maybe she'd keep those thoughts for another time… She had already ended her first one that day, and she wanted to keep everything organized…

She stroked the cover, slid it and the pen into her bag. She reclined back and leaned against a tree and let her thoughts escape. They sailed further away, going on and on as she calmed, as her breath slowed.

But then her thoughts sprung right back, snapped back into place, a rubber band that ricocheted, that stretched out and was about to launch forward but was pulled viciously back into place… Vicious actions, a vicious cycle, always thinking, never slowing to… well, slow. She spiraled down and about, and every thought that came through was a blur, but she caught glimpses of each—

What if they failed? What if everything came collapsing around them? Then, how would that work? What would be left of their lives?

Nothing, of course. Nothing would be worth anything anymore, and they'd all be dead. Zero… Zero would rule over everything, and no one would be able to stop him. Dark Matter would be all that exists, and Zero…

Zero would claim everything for his own, and only his own.

Zelda had said that people had tried before them. People had journeyed, fought against their own demons, against Zero and they'd all lost. All of them dead, possessed, forgotten, crippled and left to rot. They were all warriors, strategists, fighters with will of steel. And they all failed.

So what made Snake, Zelda, and the others any different?

What made Addie any different from those who failed before?

Addie pushed herself back, anchored herself into the sound of the churning stream, Breathe in, breathe out… Counting would help: one, two, three, four… Breathe, breathe. Focus on the sound of the river, the coursing water. Those thoughts would come later; they'd find their own place, their own time—

But these thoughts didn't follow a path; they traced a zig-zag, in every direction… Addie breathed in and out, settling her hand on her chest; still, her mind wandered and pounced on everything in sight. She'd have to dwell on these later; she didn't want to freak out about anything now. Just, relax, relax… Even though that's easier said than done now…

She shook her head to herself, twiddled with her fingers. Maybe, just this once, her brush would be of some use… It'd cure her boredom, at least.

Well, she had just jinxed everyone. "Boring" wasn't the right way to describe Dark Star. "Repetitive", maybe.

She didn't want to jinx any of this. Any moment, something could pop out of the shadows and kill every single one of them…

And there she went again. Distractions, distractions… She could never channel them, and there was yet another thing she was messing up in.

What would Zelda say about that, then? She'd tell Addie to relax and settle down, to calm herself and take things one small step at a time. She seemed like the type of person to practice meditation when stressed. That just wasn't the thing for Addie… It just wasn't. She couldn't sit still without thinking about _something, _doing something productive, creative—

She rustled her hair and crisscrossed her legs. Breathe, breathe—

Ah. Forget it.

Addie settled back, let her thoughts go where they wanted. Fine. Fine. If they wanted to be like that, sure, she'd let them. Just, go on your merry way, then, memories. It's all right, it's all fine and dandy…

They blurred and danced inside her, swinging to the side before soaring into the sky and coming back only to annoy her, to dace in front of Addie's nose and swish out of reach. _Dark Matter, useless, pain and blood… Zero, everything, endless and endless; forever and always, will always be—_

She scratched her forehead and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Think, think. Just let things happen as they do—

Addie's surroundings dulled, and she fell into a lull, an endless, yawning abyss of soundless thoughts, dancing and taunting. She had no response to any of these; she felt too numb, too… detached… Things blurred into one tone, then two, then one, on and on. So many things, so much happening at once… _Forever, ongoing, there will be no end, there will be no sound or feeling in the end, just suffering, dark forever, forever—_

Addie heard something behind her back and whirled around.

Snake had woken up, blinking his eyes and coughing gently as he sat up straighter against the canyon wall. His eyes scanned the environment, lingered on the flowing creek and settled on Addie's face. Their eyes met.

Both of his eyes were blue.

Blue. Startlingly blue, like cobalt lightning, like the sky reflecting off a clear, mirrored lake—

They weren't red anymore; thank goodness for that—

"Where are the others?"

Addie jolted in her cross-legged pose. How was she supposed to word this? Who knew what Snake would say… He'd probably get angry too, but not in the outright way that Zelda would, right? He wouldn't get all emotional about it like Ribbon, either. And he wouldn't insult her like Lucario would…

By the way, what was Lucario's deal in the first place?

Eh. That'd be for another journal, another rest point… Another passing moment, a new hour in the next day.

"Addie. You hear me?"

"Yeah," nodded Addie, mutely, silently. "Well, um…"

She stumbled through the rest of her words, and all the while her thoughts danced in front of her eyes, and sometimes she'd lose her place in her words so she'd have to stutter and repeat some phrases, _nothing ever mattered, Zero, Zero is all and nothing, and that is all, everything and nothing are one, Matt is a jerk but what is he really… Really…_

"So, ah, I left. I just couldn't stand it, I guess. I mean, you guys are heroes, if you want to be. But, I don't want that now. Not this time. I mean, I mean… Last time I saw a goal, an end with a completed Crystal, and you're probably thinking, who's to say it won't be the same this time, too…? But… I can't. I don't see it."

Snake stared at her, his face blank. "Why?"

"I don't feel confident enough anymore."

Addie could remember the first time she met them in Ripple Star… Ribbon, looking so… involved, less nervous. But, where had that gone? Where had all that improvement gone?

Eh. Whatever.

Snake leaned back. He said nothing.

There he was again, with his dumb questions and his extended silences. That's all he could do, wasn't it… He couldn't say anything worthy of her attention, he was just, unable to talk about anything casual—

No, no. She was being hypocritical. She knew what she was doing wrong even without hearing it from anybody else. She'd thought about it already, maybe for a little too long. But, still—

"I know what you want to do, Snake. I won't stop you. But I can't go back to them. I can't bring myself to, not after… this." She turned to face the river, and she fought the urge to jump in. The water was clear and she could see to the bottom, flat like a sheet of glass, flashing with a rainbow of colors…

But now wasn't really an appropriate time to go swimming, now was it…

Snake was saying something, but the gurgle of the singing river became a harmonious roar in her ears; it drowned out everything else, merged with the squeaks and the incessant whispers of her thoughts, still muttering and mumbling about nothing and everything, and the way Zero ran things and what he stood for and all that—

"Snake… It doesn't matter what you say at this point. I'm not going back with you. I could tell you about how Zelda felt when you disappeared. Ribbon, too. But… I've made up my mind. I'll stay with you for now, because, well…"

She couldn't describe why.

Snake's silence encouraged her to keep speaking. She wasn't looking but Addie knew he was listening, she could just feel it but maybe that was because she was distracted with her thoughts and all those weird mumbles and she was actually just dreaming about Snake paying attention or something… Maybe he wasn't really listening to her, and he was dozing off again. Whatever.

Addie pushed on. "Whatever the reason, I'll stay with you. But when you go back… That's when I leave you. You go your own way, I go mine. That's it."

She had already thought about what to say beforehand. Somehow she knew she'd have to confront someone about it. Somehow… Even if she hadn't known it'd be Snake, even if he was the last resort, the last person she ever wanted to talk to about these things, she knew—

"And, and," continued Addie, "I might not be there when you go out and kill Zero, you know. Not that I'm saying that you won't get there, but…"

After a moment Snake leaned back, sighed through his mouth. "I can't force you to come, Addie. Do what you want."

There was silence, and at that moment Addie's words abandoned her, left her in the dusty cloud of their passage, stranded her in the formless void. She had nothing to say.

The words that came out next were untethered to Addie's mind, playful on her lips as they danced without discretion, without direction. "Snake, I… I don't want you guys to be mad at me. I mean, I'd understand if you were, but I, ah…" She paused and counted to herself, going up from one. Maybe she could really benefit from meditation. "…I just don't want to get in the way. You know?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Addie saw Snake tilt his head back and close his eyes, breathe softly. "You won't."

"Won't what?"

"Get in the way."

"Yeah, well," Addie mumbled as she leaned over the river, dragged a finger through the water and watched the image of her finger blur underneath the surface, "that's how I feel. I think I will. You're obligated to say that because we're… we're a team. I mean, we were before. I think. Not sure how you feel about me now." _In fact, I'm still not sure of what I feel about you…_

She turned around to face Snake. He shook his head, but Addie went on. "I'm not going to leave you, though, like I said before. I mean, you just came here, I think… By the way, where were you…? What were you doing all that time? I don't want to be buggy, but… I was just wondering."

Addie didn't want to bring up how Zelda had felt. She had cried her heart out, and Ribbon, too. How would that make Snake feel? She snorted to herself under her breath. Maybe that would finally set him off.

How was she to know?

_Nothing, nothing, you know nothing. Just keep pretending. Pretending… Maybe you'll get somewhere then, nowhere—_

Snake opened his eyes gradually, sighed again and let his chest settle. "It'll take a while, and I'm not a very good storyteller."

"It doesn't have to be a story. Just, tell it like you experienced it."

_But all this is a story for Zero, isn't it? An interactive story, where his will, his desires and graces are the harbingers of our futures? It's all an imaginative trip for him. He's relaxing, exercising his creative muscles… This is him, doing what he likes in his free time, although that might not be what he categorizes this as…_

Addie shook the treacherous thought out of her head, get out, get out. She said quietly, "Snake. You're not performing, or anything. Just… just tell. Get it out in the open. Someone'll eventually listen. I'm here. If that means anything."

He looked at her some more, keeping her in that blue-eyed gaze of his. He barely nodded, and Snake opened his mouth to speak.

She listened, always silent. If this was what Snake did when other people spoke, then… Then maybe that was forgivable. It felt… refreshing, not feeling like she had to open her mouth every few seconds to say something partially intelligent. She was listening, just listening, and the things that Snake said made her hair stand up, made her blood freeze in place… But she was listening, still—

And maybe Snake would see her. Hopefully he'd see that Addie was actually, really, legitimately listening, because she hated it when people never listened to her—

He closed his mouth, stopped speaking. The world around them came back into focus, the gurgle of the river sharpening with each passing second, each swirl of water into the distance, each gust of wind that rustled the lifeless trees around them and made them dance in the blackened, ashen shadows that grasped the barren world.

Addie still couldn't say anything. What could she say? In her mind's eye the sea swallowed the body of a bleeding mercenary, a tall shadow of nothing snarled at a world of flowers, a tepid jungle opened up to the dim white walls of an underground factory, metal and rusted sprockets screamed at their visitors, and the ground caved in to the darkness of the nether realms.

What could she say to that? How could she analyze this sprawling canvas of suffering, of a pseudo-existence created from death without shunning everything that Snake went through, everything he saw, endured…?

She couldn't. She simply couldn't.

"I'm sorry"? "My apologies; my deepest condolences"…? Oh, yes. That would help. As if apologies would reverse the flow of time, erase the past, remove all traces of a former life where nothing went right…

Addie scooted away from the riverside and drew closer to Snake. She didn't want to get too close, though. Maybe he needed his personal space. But, hopefully, it'd make him feel a little bit better.

"If… If you see the others, you need to tell them this." She stared up at his face, making sure to maintain eye contact. "I don't care how hard it'll be to, for whatever personal reason you have, but you have to tell them. You… you should have the right to tell however many people will listen. Don't be satisfied with remaining silent."

Snake stared at her, completely quiet. Then, in a voice he could barely hear, he said, "They won't remember. Not after I finish what I need to."

Then he told her. He told her of her memories: how they would dissolve, disappear with Zero's death, should that ever happen. The world would return to normal, and the dead would be brought back to life. A reset, a reboot.

No one is supposed to remember anything.

No one.

"Even if we don't die, even if we don't get hurt or possessed, we'll still…"

Snake nodded, barely.

Addie thought to herself, almost choked on her saliva. She thought, thought… If there was any way to get around this, if there were any loopholes… They couldn't just forget all of this in an instant. They couldn't.

But…

But a part of her spoke out against the chill in her bones, against the feelings of… something heavy, drowning in the center of her chest.

_You want to forget._

_It's all too painful, and you want to forget. You know…_

_Who cares about Snake, if you have your own pain, your own burden to worry about?_

But, but Addie could afford to think that way. Zero hadn't really painted a giant target on her head… He had painted one on Snake, though, for whatever reasons he had for doing so. He just, did… No one told Zero to…!

But, still.

Why did they have to forget? They didn't even have a choice. Absolutely no say in the matter whatsoever. None, none at all—

"Snake," Addie rasped, "I… I don't really know what to tell you. I mean, I mean, no one asked you for this, no one really told you… It just happened, and… That's just how it was…"

Man, she wasn't being helpful at all… Every time she opened her mouth something had to go wrong.

"You don't have to say anything," he growled gently.

Addie bit her lip, choked on the bile that was slowly rising in her chest. Her heart was pounding. "But, but… After all this time, you, you… You have to go through with this, knowing full well that we'll never remember what you did, what you went through, who you met here… Everything, we're supposed to forget… And yet you still want to—" She shook her head. What… What was she supposed to say?

"Sorry," she finally said, and inwardly winced.

That didn't help.

"It's not your fault. Don't apologize." Snake ran a gloved hand over his forehead, let out a shaky breath and grimaced as his hand settled on his ribs. "It's just my job."

"_Just". Only "just". As if he doesn't have a life to live…_

"Well…" Addie's voice faded out when Snake turned to look at her. Yeah, he did look scary, sometimes not even when he noticed. But, he wasn't outwardly hostile… He was, just… Something, unreal, far away. Like, he wasn't even human, although he very much behaved like one…

He… he just, seemed like he wasn't.

Addie nearly cackled out loud. And maybe he wasn't. Maybe he wasn't really human after all, and this was all some sort of conspiracy, he was really just a robot. After all, she thought to herself with a jolt, how much hurt could one human take?

"Well," Addie started again, "at least, I think… We can help you."

But, but then he'll think about how he might fail us, how we might fail him. What does he want? What does he fear? Why… why does he stay away from us? It'd be at times like this when she wouldn't mind being able to read his thoughts. Not in a bothersome way, but just to know how he thinks.

Addie tore her gaze away. Something about the way Snake carried himself made her want to curl up and cry… What was it?

"Yeah, well, Snake, if you don't want our help," mumbled Addie suddenly through their silence, "then that's okay. I'll understand."

"Weren't you the one who didn't want anything to do with this anymore?" asked Snake, an eyebrow raised.

Addie's heart stuttered. Between Zelda and the others, between Snake and his stubborn… dedication, between Zero and the threat of what he stood for…

What was she to do?

XxX

_Adeleine's Journal: Entry ? + 1:_

Hey. So, this feels really weird. Maybe it's because I'm writing this entry on the same day as the last one. I have no idea. Time is weird here. I'm sure I've been here at least a year before I joined with Zelda, and then there were several months after that… It's been a long time, I know. That's for sure. How else would we have learned this much, seen this much?

But yeah. Time is weird here.

We talked some more, me and Snake. I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable around him. He's not super aggressive, but he can be really hostile, or just a bit, bitter. I really, really don't blame him, but I don't know if I'm a part of the reason why he's bitter and sad and angry. It's strange. That I would influence such a person in such a way is weird and unnatural for me. Maybe I'm prone to putting myself down now, but, maybe not. I don't really know how to feel anymore.

If I knew Snake better, then maybe things would be easier to gauge for me. Maybe I'd be able to understand everything, everyone… better. Just, better.

God, my handwriting looks horrible. My pen is shaking, and I'm getting ink all over the side of my hand. It's a miracle I can read this.

I feel like rambling every second, now. Not many people are around to listen, and it's not like I can splatter paint all over the ground. Somehow that'd go against me. Somehow, Zero would be able to track us down if I painted the wall or a tree or something. He has his ways, and it's super cheap, super annoying.

I feel the need to look over my shoulder as I write this. Not at Snake, but at the shadows. Who knows when Matt and Zero might come for our heads?

I haven't been to Dark Star, ever, and I've always hidden in Ripple Star's catacombs. I really, really don't want to know how those catacombs happened. But every day was a struggle, and I didn't want to waste time worrying about things like that.

I've been thinking. If I'm really an advocate for change, then I'd have made it clear a long time ago. I wonder if Ribbon's thinking about that question I asked her a while ago, about whether I should have left them. Well, it didn't matter. I left anyway.

But at the same time, if I was so against these people and their goals for doing foolish things and trying to get themselves killed in this… "rebellion" of sorts, then… Would I have done the same thing Lucario did? I've been telling myself that I wouldn't. Lucario was a piece of shit. That's that.

Maybe he was more relatable to than I thought…

How could he ally with Zero, though? Even under the threat of death?

Well, there's me being a hypocrite again. I can completely understand, and sadly, I'm able to see myself standing in Lucario's shoes. No matter how shitty of a person Lucario is, I guess… I can understand him.

That doesn't excuse him from being a damn idiot.

Then again, it does. I'm scared, I have to admit. It's easier to say on paper, but I really am scared. Going in hiding for a long time has really messed up my nerves.

Still. This whole thing about Snake feels way too complicated sometimes. All these things about death, and forgetting, and resetting our world and stuff… I think that Snake has a lot to say about this, if he felt the need to say something about it. From the way he spoke… today (?), he likes to get to the point. His storytelling is still just as eloquent, as descriptive as the greatest narrator. He's a bit… harsh, though.

I can't believe I can still talk like this. I'm writing, not talking, but still. You get the idea. I'd have thought I gave up a long time ago, just, kinda given up. You'd be seeing me as a pile of… flesh and bone next. I'd be brain-dead. A part of me just wants to lie down and sleep for the rest of my life, however long that is. That's not productive, I know, but I bet it'll feel so good to get enough sleep without feeling like death is constantly just around the corner.

Maybe that's too far-fetched of a wish now. I've joined up with Kirby and Co., and there's no way out now, no way I can find someplace in which to hide myself. I've gotten Zero's attention, and there's no way I'll be able to disappear.

But, I'll give these guys a little bit of credit: they've given me a reason to keep on going. Snake, Ribbon, Zelda. All of them.

I always think I fail. Even in situations not like this, even when everything is a lot better than it is now… I always think I'll mess up in some way. Yeah, I'm paranoid, I know. It's a bad habit.

But… these guys…

These guys tell me that I'm worth it. I feel like I belong somewhere, for once. I don't feel like an outcast, and hey… At least we have a common goal: staying alive.

Here's to hoping that might last just a bit longer.

_End Entry_

XxX


	33. Clairvoyant

XxX

_Clairvoyant_

The river fell down an incline, wormed its way between hills and low canyon outcroppings. It would widen, graze the breast of the canyon path like some great slithering serpent before closing in on itself and snapping around corners in a thin rope of water as it wormed its way underneath shriveled vines like leathery, shadowy fingers suspended from ink-black branches.

Addie brushed a vine from her face, ducked forward before the branch could snap back into position. She shirked; the vine was cold and desiccated, gray and lifeless like the touch of bone, the hushed snowfall of ash.

Like everything else. Like all of the dead, cold things they had seen—

Snake was ahead of her, his knife held in his left hand and his Crystal Shard in his right. She could imagine the glow, the gentle hum against her skin, because she had gotten one too, before she gave it to Ribbon… She needed one of those for her own. Then she'd be warm forever, and she wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed…

She still hadn't asked Snake where he had found it. So many questions, so many things to ask him, and she still hadn't done anything about them. She was losing the opportunity, too, she felt, because… Because everything felt so… strange, and something bad and horrible and nasty was bound to happen soon. They'd be screwed, and Addie wouldn't have gotten the chance to ask Snake anything.

Like… Like, what was his past like?

Man. That got personal fast.

How would Snake react if she asked him these things? Was he going to get angry? Was he going to ignore her? Was he going to answer her outright, or was he going to give her riddles and clues?

How was she to know?

After all of this time, she should have felt more comfortable being around him. Actually, she was comfortable, at least as comfortable as she could be in a life such as this—

But, why hadn't she asked yet? Ribbon had no qualms about asking things like that, about just _talking and not letting the thoughts of others stop her_—

But maybe she, Addie, was actually very good at that, and she just didn't know what to think of herself…

And Addie shook as her legs carried her forward, and the river gave off a sudden chill, sent ice shooting down her spine as she thought… She wasn't Ribbon, and of course she wasn't. Well, they did have a few things in common… Ribbon relied on the Crystal, and Addie relied on her brush, and—

And both of them hated that.

How were they supposed to help if all they could do was carry around fancy items and expect them to do all the work…?

Addie shook these thoughts away. There'd be another place for that, another day because that's what they were fighting for, and that's what they'd find in the end. They'd come back in their due time, but Addie had her mind focused on different things, let it wander in different pastures.

Occasionally Addie caught herself trying to avoid Snake's attention, look away whenever his gaze focused on her. If anything, yesterday had… had sought to separate them, as if things could get any more upside-down, any weirder.

Addie knew. She'd always thought of it earlier, but that talk with him just made him less human.

So how the hell was she supposed to relate to him at this rate?

How the hell was she supposed to get anything done?

Snake froze, and suddenly crouched behind a fallen tree, slanted with its black leaves falling around it. He gestured Addie closer, and she obliged, wrapped her fingers tighter around her brush. Maybe, maybe it'd help, even though she didn't want it to…

Snake winced and opened up his right hand. The Crystal there was pulsating like a star, its brilliant edge gleaming, burning with a halo of cerulean light in its core. He ran his fingers over its edge, clenched his hand around it and slowly peeked over the tree.

Zero and a circle of soldiers stood in a nearby grove, glancing into the river, gazing between the trees, looking for something with a maddened fervor. Matt hovered next to Zero, his sword blazing with an aura of violet fire. His single eye like emerald ice gleamed as he scanned the landscape, his gaze lingering on a certain tree for longer than others…

Suddenly he turned, turned to look in their direction, the spot where Snake and Addie were hiding, and he made brief eye contact with Addie; time seemed to freeze—

Snake ducked down and Addie fought the urge to back away, surely they'd been seen, and nothing would stop Matt from going to them and ripping them apart… They weren't safe here, of course they weren't, and Addie felt like slapping herself. Of course they weren't safe!

How could she think that they were…?

Both of them waited with stifled breaths, heartbeats that wanted to pound out of their chests. Any second now, and… And they'd be surrounded, and maybe this was when their ridiculous luck ran out…

"Matt," Zero could be heard saying, whispering. "What are you looking at?"

Matt's reply came fast. "Nothing in particular, my lord. I was just… staring off a-ways. There is nothing there to interest you."

"I just wondered. I mean, surely they're here somewhere, and while I may not be able to pinpoint the exact location, I know they're nearby. So, Matt… Would you keep an eye out? And even if you had a choice, perhaps you'd do so either way, whether you want to follow my orders anymore or not."

"My lord…? Surely, you can't be suggesting—"

"Maybe I am," Zero said. "You've traveled far without me, Matt. Where have those journeys led you? Doubt. Maybe… maybe a little remorse, from what I can see. Yes. Don't bother hiding it from me. I know already."

"I wanted answers, lord, and you promised me them, if only I could listen to your every word and follow your rules, your will, then my demands will be met and I will have everything I will ever need. My needs haven't been met yet, and I merely want the process to be sped up. Even if it means—"

"—Even if it means consorting with our enemies, those pathetic insects? Fine," Zero scoffed, spat. "Do what you will. I have no control over you or them. Go to them for your answers, and see where that gets you. See how they can guide you when those heroes are hiding in their houses of paper and waving their spears of wheat."

"I mean no disrespect, lord. You've done much, and… It's been a long time, and I still have doubts. I do not know who to turn to, so I turn to our enemies. I'm lost, and it would benefit me to obey a ruler like you."

"I know already." Zero could be heard walking away, and Addie's heart calmed, _bmp, bmp_. "Matt, always the diplomat. Always knows what to say to make the masses happy. Perhaps you learned that from me, and perhaps you learned it as a bad habit from someone else…"

"I would not consider them bad habits, Zero…"

"I wanted to tell you something, always, and I'll take time to do so now. These people are all fools, and all humans are fools. Don't trust them; it wouldn't be wise. They're pathetic, they're nothing… They pretend to own the world, and when someone comes in to tell them otherwise their whole world falls apart. So… why would you trust them…?"

Matt could say nothing in reply.

"Well, perhaps I hold no blame for you doubting me. You are who you wish yourself to be." Zero's voice was light as he said, "I cannot control you. But, maybe, I can influence you. And there's another thing: you must listen to me, in order to get what you want. That is the way of the world."

"Milord… I did not want to be rude. I merely stated my doubts, and I want them answered still—"

"And you will get answers soon. You will be rewarded, of that you should be sure. But do not stray, and you'll see. All of you will, even those fools."

Zero turned away, and Addie's heart nearly exploded… Any second now—

"Not all of them are fools," interjected Matt. "They… They have some redeeming qualities that… that some of us might lack…"

"Or so you think. Or so you believe. As if they could ever offer anything, Matt. Love? What has that ever done for them? When has love ever done anything useful, for you, for them? They're going to die here, regardless of how much love they have. It won't matter. I won't let it."  
"Milord—"

"I have kept my peace silently. I have waited to tell you, Matt, to see if you would realize your folly without my urging. You were the first, the only one of your kind for a long while. You were the first Dark Matter, made from the world I control, from the mind that I am. And you… You have no right to disobey me." Zero's voice rose in volume, and Addie winced and clamped her hands over her ears as his words escalated to the deafening roar of a thunderstorm. "You could not understand my motives. You want your goals; fine. I will help you, then, if you obey me. Don't bother trying to do otherwise."

"I didn't want it to end like this," Matt cut in suddenly. "I didn't want people to die."

Zero's voice faded abruptly.

After a moment's silence, he whispered, "And where did these feelings come from, swordsman? Where have you learned these poisonous thoughts? Where have you ever dreamed of a peaceful world, full of illusions and two-headed misers?"

Matt didn't reply, but Addie swore she could hear the gentle sound of a swinging sword, but maybe she was just imagining things, maybe she really needed to sleep and then everything would be okay after that, and then maybe she wouldn't ramble to herself as much—

But there must have been a sword drawn in there, because how else would she have been able to hear it—

"I… I wanted something for so long, and… and maybe… maybe you can't give it to me, Zero, my lord. I… I have doubts, now, and I don't feel like following mindlessly anymore."

"Matt, you fool. That's how everyone lives; how can you expect to live any differently? How can things change for the better? You would never know."

"I have a will," Matt suddenly burst out, roaring, "and I have a heart!"

Addie could barely see Zero shaking his head. "No, no. Matt. You don't understand. You never could. You promised to stay loyal, to wait until the end. If this is what you wanted to happen, then… But you've let them get to you, corrupt what you were. And this is unacceptable."

"For you… for you, maybe," growled Matt, "but I am willing to live this life. Even if it… Even if it means forgetting your truth."

"My truth? My truth is the only truth there is, Matt. Look around…!" Zero's eye pierced into Matt's as he said, forcing air through his words, "How can any of this exist… if people were never cruel, petty, selfish, and dishonest? It exists, because they are. And that's all the every will be. Nothing can change that."

"Zero. Someday… Someday, I'll see for myself."

"Well, I will see if you do. Maybe you'll give out, just like they will. Everyone will in the end. It's not something you can change."

There was a whoosh of air and a whirl of shadows. Matt was gone.

It took a moment for Addie to realize that she had been holding her breath, and that her fingers were sweaty, hot around her paintbrush, but she stayed as still as possible… Her eyes met Snake's, and he gave a barely perceptible nod.

Who knew what was going on in that brain of his, who knew… He could've been thinking anything, and _now wasn't the time, damn it_—

"Matt. He thinks the world will give him what he wants, without showing any effort for it." Zero snarled to himself, and his robe swirled around him with audible gusts of icy wind. "Fine, then. If he needs my help, then… I will not give it to him, even if he begs. He wants to make a fool of me, to doubt my words, limit me. Fine, then. I don't need him."

There was another burst of shadow, and its tendrils seared the violet sky.

Addie didn't move. Any second now, and Zero would find them and kill them, but not before doing really nasty things to them because that was how he worked, how he functioned… He liked suffering; he liked causing it, seeing it… What a fun day for him this would be, then…

She didn't dare hope. There was no way Zero, that fallen angel, that sacred beast of depravity, could have missed them—

They remained silent as the stream gurgled next to them, as the wild winds howled and scraped at the soulless trees, tearing leaves from their boughs. The world was turning around them as they waited; surely, in any moment, they'd meet their end… Any moment now—

As they stilled, as they waited for death, the breeze gushed still, and the river continued to flow, ignoring them, their pounding chests…

Addie wasn't sure of how much time had passed, but the voices of the shadows had dimmed, and the ashes that lingered in the black sky alongside the banners of purple light had fallen down to the earth in silence, without a sign or a sound. Surely, if Zero was going to kill them he would have already done so; there was no purpose in waiting for that one single moment…

"Snake," Addie said, "do you… do you think it's safe to leave, now…?"

He glanced at her quietly, his face a mask of nothing. He opened his fingers out to reveal the Crystal Shard, shining dimly in the center of his hand, gleaming with a sacred pulse but no longer burning.

Did that mean…

Was Zero gone?

Heck, why did the Crystal Shard burn like that in the first place? What… what was it? How could it just… mask their appearance, their exact location from the one who knew everything, who quite possibly had all of their lives in the palm of his hand? That would've been useful before, useful in all the times when they were at Zero's mercy, and when they were only a few steps from dying, losing everything—

And… and why was Addie even thinking about that here?

Swallowing, trying to ease her heartbeat, Addie peeked briefly over the log.

No one was around; the river and the wind were the only sounds that could be heard. Far away, the horizon line shone a bright white, in contrast with the ground it lay upon.

So, maybe Zero was gone.

He hadn't found them at all…

Addie realized… Matt had seen them. He could have killed both of them without hesitation; he could have cut them down without mercy, or revealed them to Zero.

And yet… he didn't.

He hadn't given them away when Addie was sure he would, was so sure of herself that she and Snake were both very, extremely dead…

He… he hadn't told Zero. He'd just ignored them.

She wanted to tell Snake so badly, to get her feelings out in the open, but Snake must have thought about it, too. He knew; of course he knew. And he was probably thinking about it, as well. He wouldn't want to be bothered with questions like that—

Snake had gotten to his feet, dashed silently around their fallen barricade and to the next tree forward. He leaned his back against it, peered to the side. He raised a hand, gestured Addie forward. She followed, with her paintbrush loose at her side.

They weaved through the trees, and every sound, every scratching swirl of wind that brushed up through the branches made their hair stand on end… Because anything could come out of the shadows; anything could go wrong in one instant, one second of a passing moment and ruin everything—

A tunnel lay before them, sloping downward into the bowels of the obsidian earth. Its mouth was outlined with crystals gleaming like rainbows tinted purple. Darkness stretched on, pulsed endlessly as the river dove straight through it, trickled down, fade into a misty obscurity as the underground devoured it whole.

"Um, Snake… We don't have a choice, do we…?"

"To what?"

"Go through there."

He looked at her, cocked an eyebrow. "No, we don't."

He went first, finding his way carefully down the slope as the grass, the melted weeds were replaced by wet stone.

Addie looked on as Snake's form was swallowed by the earth.

What if they met their end here, in the dark, with nothing to guide them? What if the Crystal Shard was somehow messed up so it wouldn't hide them from Zero anymore? W-what if they were stranded down there and they'd have to live with the fact that they failed up until the very end?

Maybe Zelda and the others would have to carry on then… But then, Ribbon wouldn't have a completed Crystal and maybe that would end up screwing everyone over…

Jeez…

Why was she so paranoid?

No, she wasn't being paranoid. She was evaluating all outcomes, seeing where each one would lead. But, if all of these outcomes were so… dark and dreary, then maybe… Maybe she was really being paranoid, and she was just kidding herself. Maybe none of these would happen, and they'd get through this.

Yeah.

Wishful thinking.

Addie followed Snake down, past the crystals adorning the walls and into the darkened depths.

XxX

The glow of the Crystal Shard guided them on, illuminated the surface of the river as it trickled, weaved and danced underneath the subterranean ceiling. Words, voiceless whispers echoed around them, droned on as the tunnel lengthened with each step, each fleeting breath.

Addie was shivering. Maybe she was just cold, but… but that couldn't be it. That couldn't be the only reason. Lots of things could make her shiver: the weather, the fact that everything was so dark and dreary and full of absolutely nothing…

It wasn't just her being paranoid, being sensitive. How else would she have lived this long? She fought back the urge to snort. She wasn't stupid; she knew her way around. Of course.

But, then, at the same time…

Maybe she was really stupid, and she was just kidding herself. Maybe it hadn't all been her survival skills, and she wasn't really talented in any respect, in any way, and the only thing that had protected her was luck, and maybe her paintbrush. She felt her face darken, her lips pull down. If there was any thought that could have been called a downer, then that was it.

Who was she to tell? She could mouth off to the walls, she supposed, mouth off to the tunnel and hear it echo for all the world to witness, or just yell at the sky and hope that those above would hear and have something to say back—

She shook her head, kept walking alongside Snake as his Crystal Shard, sitting proud in his hand, calmly lit their mildewed, frozen path.

Here and there, water splashed from the smooth ceiling, landing in perfect puddles on the floor, collecting in grooves and flowing over rocks. In the stream, blue light reflected from the Crystal bathed and danced on the riverbed, swirled through the currents and the ripples that spread outward, cascaded alongside the banks. The river was the one thing not kept stagnant: it changed, weaved and bobbed in time to its own rhythm, bowing and dipping with the occasional wind, circling around any rocks, boulders.

It was just nice, so nice… She would've given anything to see that anywhere else, in a forest, maybe, or a quiet, windy plain…

Any place but here.

But, Addie told herself, the river provided a nice contrast of light and scenery, changed up the pacing of the world around them so everything felt just that little less bleak, empty, dull. That…

That was good, wasn't it?

A small part of her nagged at these thoughts, threatened to rip them into shreds, strips of ruined fabric. If the world wasn't so sad in the first place there would be no need for contrast. That's what living is; this stagnant melting pot of… nothing, of tasteless things isn't anywhere close to the idea, the mere notion of living… If every little detail is so dark and sad and whatever Zero fancies it to be, then… Then it doesn't really have any importance, now does it?

Addie shook her head. Now wasn't the time. Now wasn't the time… Not now, not later, not ever… She'd spent enough time doubting herself, hadn't she? Spent enough of her… _herself _doubting her own thoughts, her skills, her… friends…?

She kept walking, kept walking… Just focus on that; don't worry about anything else for now and just worry about where this tunnel will take you…

Well. That wasn't helpful, not in the least.

Addie wiped cold sweat from her brow, lost herself in the words of the river, the humming and beating voices of the water that flowed with heart, wit, drive to places unknown—

"Maybe I should have said something earlier."

The voice made Snake and Addie stop in their tracks.

Matt was hovering in front of them, casting the light from his emerald eye over them, coating the river and the crystal formations in the walls with a vitriolic green glow. Cape billowing, mane of black fire swirling, he said, "Maybe I should have told him. He would have been happy, even if he doesn't know what that is."

"You knew," Addie said, trembling. "You knew where we were. You saw us."

He nodded. "Yes. I did. And I still wonder… Why didn't I say anything about it? Why didn't I consider it when Zero was talking to me? I don't know, even now." Matt turned to them and said, softly, "And you heard us both, I assume."

Neither Snake nor Addie spoke.

"I will take that as a yes, but… I wonder what your silence means."

"Matt," Addie burst out suddenly, "I don't know what to say, I mean, if… If you wanted us dead there're so many chances you've already had to turn us in, and you haven't… so… why? I mean, you don't have to answer—"

He turned a single green eye on her, and she shut her mouth. "I know all of this. And yet, it's still confusing. Zero has told me all of these things, but the more he tells me, the more I doubt him, and the more I see you… living, trying to live… Well…" Matt shook his head. "It's confusing as is. And maybe I still don't understand."

He turned to Snake and said, "Do you understand, soldier? Do you understand the way people work?"

Snake narrowed his eyes, tightened a fist. "Of course I don't."

"I guess I was expecting that." Matt stared into the river, and his eye glazed over the surface, a gleaming, emerald star suspended in water. "I don't understand. Zero doesn't, but if he does he hasn't told me."

"Then why ask us?"

Matt suddenly grew animated; his sword disappeared from his hands of smoke, and his cape swirled, flailed around him. "I want to know. I want to know. I want to know what can drive you so far, but at the same time get you all killed and make you all shells of your former selves and convince Lucario to join us instead. I don't know what the Crystal is, or why it affects Zero the way it does, or why it reacts to certain things, and…" He steadied his breath. "And… I want what I know to have meaning."

"Go back to Zero." Snake stepped closer so Matt turned his head up to look. "He'll give the answer you're looking for. At least then you'll know we're hypocrites."

"I can't trust him. I can't help him… He, he can't be bothered to assist me. So many times I've asked, and it's all about faith, or so I've heard. I don't have that anymore. So… he can't help—"

"And neither can I, or Addie. It's your call to make."

"And I want your help. That's my call."

Matt went silent for a long moment; he had no mouth but Addie felt energy pent up in his stance, as if waiting to release it all through his words, tensing for the moment of revelation, when all would become clear. If only…

If only it were like that.

"Matt," Addie said, "we… we can't help. You… you haven't had the experience we have, haven't met the same people. So our answer or whatever may be different—"

"I don't care, I don't care," blurted Matt, and he lost all composure. "I want answers, I want to know. I cannot say it enough, but Zero has failed to give me all answers… I come to you, to Zelda and the others, and I want to know… No one in a long time has come this far, because everyone has died, been possessed, banished to a far corner of the world. So… so maybe you'll be the first people I can listen to—"

Addie felt a pang ripple through her chest. "Matt. How… how can we trust you, if we don't know where your trust comes from? All you want are, are answers, and, and… That's not much to go off of."

He shook his head. "It's more than you think. Much more."

"And then what happens then?" Addie swallowed, and said, "What happens when we've given you all the help we can, even if that doesn't answer your doubts…? What happens when Zero comes into the picture again to ruin everything?"

"He won't… I won't let him."

"And that's if we had all the answers in the first place, which we don't." Snake leaned against the cavern wall and looked down, arms crossed over his chest. He shook his head and grumbled, "So just forget about it. We can't help. Not after all this."

"Maybe you can, and you're just holding it back. You're the ones with divine purpose, you're the ones who want to end Zero. So, why, why… Why would you ever… Maybe if you are happy with your choices, I'd like to know why, to see up close… Surely you are happy with your choices, because you've stuck to them…"

The look Snake gave him said something different.

"Matt," Addie pleaded, "just… I, we don't want things more complicated than they already are, and… and we don't know whether to trust you. We… we don't know who you are."

He jumped, scared of the dancing dark. "No, no. Of course you don't. Maybe that was the only thing he was right about."

"What, Zero?" Snake whipped his head back to face the swordsman. "He's not right about us. He never was. He never will be."

"And… and I'm supposed to believe something, to place my trust in something. I want to, but… I don't know who to turn to. I can't trust you, not yet, but I want answers, and all of this is just… confusing…"

Addie said, "Just, just don't go back and rat us out, Matt. I… I really wouldn't…"

Matt's eye widened, his mouth saying nothing, his tongue still and silent. He paced backward and disappeared into the dark.

Addie sat down heavily by the river alongside her brush, ignoring Snake, listening to the cascading water jump, ricochet around the tunnel and spiral further into the darkness. She set her paintbrush down and watched the shadows roil and boil in the cavern as they screamed for release, howled against the walls of their prison. They sped through the passage, clawing for an exit, aching to spread their wings and fly.

She wished she was the river, flowing onward without shackles, without anything to hold her back. It didn't have to fear the sun, the moon… It didn't fear the earth, the sky that lingered above like a blanket… It didn't fear the rain, the clouds, the wind…

It didn't fear Zero, and that was all she needed.

Addie curled her knees up to her chest and put her forehead on top of them. To the ground she said, "I hope Matt doesn't kill us. Or Zero, because… Because that would probably hurt."

Snake snorted nearby. "Yeah. I know. I do, too."

"Snake," Addie started, raising her head and turning to face him, "if… if you had a chance, would you rest? Would you give yourself a chance and rest? Chances are… we'll never get to Zero at this rate. I mean, think of all the detours we've taken so far, or… been forced to take. Why not just, y'know… stay on a detour, if we're gonna go through so many of them anyway. I mean, I don't want you to if you don't want to. But—"

A shadow seemed to fall on Snake's face, and cloak it in sight of the river's gleam. "It's too late for that, Addie. We can't go back."

"But that just means… that just means we're getting ourselves further into this mess! Things would've been simpler if you'd just chosen to, like, hide or something, and not go chasing after Zero… He would have come to us sooner or later…"

Addie continued her own train of thought and mused, "But, but maybe we still have a chance to slip off the radar, somehow use the Crystal Shard to hide ourselves from Zero and just, just, go away someplace and, and I don't know…"

"… Live out the rest of our days like this?"

She nodded slowly, shaking. "Y-yeah."

"You don't mean that."

Addie turned back to the river. She couldn't reply.

_No. I don't mean that. Of course I don't. I don't want to live like this. I want to go back and paint things, enjoy the sunshine and do the things I've always wanted to do, say what I need to. I… I want to be happy._

_ But, if this is what it takes…_

She set her head back down on her knees, aware of the sobs building in her chest.

She just didn't want Snake to see her crying again.

XxX


	34. Pathos

XxX

_Pathos_

Addie was back in Ripple Star's catacombs, running alongside Ribbon and Zelda as the subterranean passages collapsed around them.

Even in the dream, Addie shifted, her heart squirmed as her legs carried her on. She didn't like the way everything smelled, the musty mold clinging to the walls, the spears of water pinging off the stones below. Everything was… dark, just so dark… and she hated it. She hated it. She hated the way things seemed to cave in on themselves, to collapse inward like a collection of dying stars. It was just, so dark and weird-smelling… And Addie had to bite down to prevent those dumb comments from spilling out—

They ran on, and Ganon's screams faded into background noise, melted into the din of falling earth. Metal and crystals clinked around them, reflecting the kaleidoscope of glass that tumbled about in Addie's chest.

This was all a dream, Addie told herself as she ran, because this… this had already happened, and she was sleeping and this just had to happen again, now didn't it… Of course it did.

Addie barreled past the others, heart in her throat… But, since when was she faster than the others?

The tunnel widened into a set of double doors that stretched up to the cavern ceiling, and Addie tumbled into a room, tripping over her feet and barely catching herself, prevented herself from falling. Her legs burned, throbbed as she slowed and bent over, hands over her knees.

She raised her head and saw Zelda suddenly standing in front of her. But… there was something off about her face. Not the mask, not her scars; it was something else…

Addie focused her eyes on the princess's cheekbones, her ruffled auburn hair falling over her shoulders.

And before her eyes, Zelda's skin turned gray, and her fingers turned into sharpened claws, and Addie could barely back away because her knees had suddenly seized up. She couldn't move, and she could only open her mouth and screech, but even that was a muted rasp with no sound—

Zelda's jaw fell and her lips parted, and from between her teeth came a whisper, a canine growl that gained physical form and whistled through the space between them like a trail of black smoke, and Addie hugged the wall behind her… Her brush was nowhere to be found, it wasn't at her side or in her bag and Addie could distinctly hear the blood pumping in her ears…

A halo seemed to materialize over Zelda's head, and suddenly she had two faces, fighting and sparring over who would claim her body, both of them talking at once, screaming, jesting and poking fun at Addie's horrid beauty, howling like rabid wolves at the carcass of a deer they had torn to pieces—

Addie ran forward and pushed Zelda to the side… She could see a blue orb floating midair and she dashed for it. She heard Zelda screeching as she ran toward Addie, as she screeched like a banshee and nearly made Addie's eardrums burst—

When she touched the orb it dissolved, but nothing happened. The world was the same, and Zelda was still—

Addie's hand passed straight through it, and the world went dark. There was nothing, nothing to see. Dull voices flitted about her ears, and it was all Addie could do from curling up on the ground and holding her hands over her ears to block out the noise. She closed her eyes, and it didn't matter; it was still dark, really dark, and Addie had to fight down the bile rising in her mouth.

It was just a dream, just a dream… It'd all be over soon… She just had to hold on, to be patient—

But the voices gained clarity, and Addie felt waves of warmth over her skin that dispelled the frozen wastes of the catacombs. She opened her eyes to the warm torchlight of a silent chamber with cobblestone walls dripping wet. Shadows draped themselves over the room, molded to the soft whispers and rasps of the people nearby.

Addie turned to face them and backed up, her mouth parting in a silent cry. There was Zero, standing with his robe trailing behind him and with his halo hovering above his head, and there was Snake… And, and… And he was hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, coughing as Zero stepped closer until he was out of the torchlight, plunged into the shadows that soon cloaked them both.

She could make out flashes of movement, grunts, and the sounds of punches and kicks. She couldn't hear their conversation, and she didn't want to, not now, not ever… No, no, why did she have to see this, oh God—

And Addie could barely make out the gleaming flash of a knife, but whose knife it was wasn't clear, and she really didn't want to stay and find out—

Addie steeled herself. Go, go, find a way out of this mess, there's got to be a way out—

She could hear Snake yelling in the background, Zero roaring alongside him as his anger came forth in great waves of rage that nearly made Addie collapse… This, this was all fake, and it was only a dream and it would be all over soon, none of this had happened and it was never going to, she'd make it out of this—

Because, she couldn't die in a dream. Of course not.

Of… of course not. She was sleeping, and when she woke up then everything would go back to being happy and normal…

But something popped to life in front of her, and the room faded to be replaced with the endless dark once again, but she could still see the two-headed people standing in front of her. Their eyes were red, and their arms were twisted, contorted in harsh shapes, angles. Their necks were bent in awkward ways, and they shuffled when they walked, and sometimes their eyes narrowed into the piercing gaze of a serpent… They stared at Addie, unblinking, and one of them had a hood and a halo, and he was pointing a finger at her, gnarled like an old tree.

Addie pushed away the grasping hand of a demon at her right, but when she looked over, its two faces looked like Ribbon's, and both of them were smiling wide, showing bloodied teeth and pincers like those of an insect as four blank red eyes stared Addie down—

_They will turn on you. None of this is real, but it's all true. This is all what you fear, but let it conquer you. It can only tell you the truth,_ the voice around her said. _And, these people have so much to show you._

The voice sounded like Zero, shit, and… and what if it was? What if—

Addie screamed, and something in her ribcage exploded, and she was suddenly carrying her paintbrush; it had just appeared in her hand suddenly… She felt her body move without her as her arm waved down over the Ribbon-faced being, and gaped with wide eyes as blood splashed into her mouth in a disgusting blob and smeared the head of her paintbrush—

It staggered back and readied its open hand, and Addie could feel warmth down her chest as its claws left a stinging, burning pain there. She swung her paintbrush again but the beast kept coming, and Addie just barely blocked its next attack as its claws wrapped around her brush, tore at the hair on it—

Addie swung blindly again, but the thing with its two heads was suddenly at her side, whispering foul words, slithering in her ear and through her skull.

In the dark, Zero's voice seemed to join in. _They will turn on you. Since when did you believe what they said? They think you're useless without your paintbrush. They don't value you for what you are. You're a tool, Addie. You always were._

And the Ribbon-demon in front of Addie seemed to nod, to hiss in agreement as it opened its fingers, bared its claws for another strike.

_They took you, forced you out of hiding. They will kill you. They will kill you, and take everything you have and burn it. Then, who will you be? Who will you be when your precious paintbrush burns to ashes? Who will you be when they take your heart and keep it from you?_

"I'll be me," Addie found herself yelling, almost hoping to push the spirits away with the force of her words. "I'll be me, and that's all I need. I don't need you…!"

_We'll see. We'll wait._

And the monster with two of Ribbon's face lunged at her, and Addie felt its claws wrap around her throat and tear at her chest before everything went dark.

XxX

Addie jolted up, and it didn't matter to her that she was crying, she was already sobbing even though she wasn't fully awake yet, and she was dimly aware of Snake sitting nearby and turning to face her—

God, she was loud, but she didn't care, she didn't care—

She was probably going to alert every monster and stupid demon nearby, but suddenly she _didn't care at all_—

She wasn't really paying attention but suddenly Snake's arms were around her shoulders and she was leaning her head against his chest, but none of this mattered, none, none, and she still had tears in her eyes and couldn't see straight; she was shaking and shaking and the shaking wouldn't stop and her heart was breaking—

Her sobs rent the insides of her throat, and her chest was shattering into fragments, God, God, why—

This, this all felt so wrong… She shouldn't have been hugging Snake, he could stab her in the back any moment and she'd just be leaving herself open, she couldn't afford to get stabbed in the back—

"Hey, Addie," Snake said softly, "Addie, you're fine. You're fine."

Addie's chest tightened, jostling the shards than jingled inside. She didn't care, she didn't care that she was crying anymore, she didn't care that Snake might be judging her, she just, she just wanted to keep crying because it was so much better than going forward and falling down dead—

Her shoulders shook, and she trembled, sobbing, in Snake's gentle grip. Addie tightened her hands into fists and curled up in a ball because she didn't know what to hold on to, and holding his hands would have felt weird—

She sobbed and sobbed, and as she sobbed she felt Snake's hand settle on the top of her head, straightening her beret.

Addie's breath caught in her chest, and she wiped her eyes with her sleeves, sniffled and breathed deep, one, two, one, two… Just, just hang in there, you'll make it, you'll make it, there's always another chance to come back—

You'll bounce back from this, regardless of what anyone else wants from you… Zero was wrong, he was all wrong, and he wouldn't need to tell her how to live her life—

_Who will you be?_

She could feel herself slowly pushing Snake away… Who cared, who cared what he felt about it, because he wouldn't understand how Addie was feeling, or the fact that she might be forgotten in a moment, and they wouldn't care at all… He was a heartless bastard, anyway—

That thought made tears spiral down her face and into her lap, made her throat seize up.

Who was she to think like that?

For one lingering moment their hands touched, and Addie backed away. She remembered, now. The two-faced monsters, the whispers in the dark, the torchlight hiding its numberless secrets. What, what if—

What if that was all real? What if things really were going down the drain and no amount of fighting would save them?

Her wails quieted, faded, and Addie brushed her nose with her sleeves once more. Her forehead was throbbing, burning in silence, and her legs were asleep. "Sn-Snake, I… I didn't really mean to be that loud, I… I mean, sorry. I didn't mean to, I know I'm useless—"

"No," Snake said.

Addie looked up.

"No, you're not."

With the quiet look in his eyes, Addie had to believe him.

He briefly touched Addie's shoulder, and she didn't pull away. "We would've told you if you were."

"Snake, I'm… I'm bawling like a baby, and, and I'm just a mess… How can you say that? I feel like I'm going to just, just die, and it won't even be because someone tried to kill me… I can't go on like this, and… and…" Addie fought down the wave of nausea whirling in her brain. "And I haven't done anything useful—"

Shaking his head, Snake grumbled, "Have you looked in a mirror lately?" He stared Addie down and said, "You're underestimating yourself, and you'd be better off placing these doubts on something else."

"Snake, I… How can you say that? I'm… I'm… Without my paintbrush, I'm nothing. I can't even make it through a single day without, without feeling like shit—"

"You can think that, Addie. But it's not true."

Addie couldn't stifle a half-grin. "You're too nice. I don't know where this came from."

Snake's gaze shifted to the far mouth of the cavern. "You deserve better." He got to his feet, ran one hand over the hilt of his sheathed knife. "We should get going."

"Snake," Addie blurted, "what if we don't make it? When all this ends, what if we can't finish what we started? What… What do we do then? I don't want to get our hopes down, but, I just… What if—"

He looked at her for one long moment.

"We'll figure it out," he said.

XxX

The cavern opened up to a maze of canyons, stretching down endlessly into the ink-black abyss, the river dropping off into a waterfall that spiraled into the eternal night. The razor cliffs around them stretched in all directions, some rising like haunted monoliths, others keeping the chasms in the earth level, open to the lifeless sky.

Addie stepped over a thin crack, careful, slow as she watched her feet land safely on the other side. If it didn't suddenly open up on her, that would be just fine.

Following Snake's lead, she squeezed in between two cliffs, holding her paintbrush close to her as she pressed between the jagged stone. She didn't mind as much anymore… Everything in her head was hers, regardless of whether she had the brush or not.

Of course, that could change, and maybe Zero would somehow make her feel useless and disgusting and horrible again, because that was just how he liked to do things. He liked to put other people down and make them feel scared and sad and all the things in between… He, he was just… mean, rude, stupid, bitter…

But what did he have to feel bitter about?

Addie snorted. Whatever it was, it had really worked him up.

A small voice in the back of her head said, _it's you. He's bitter because of you. Zero wants you gone, because you made him bitter, gave him things he didn't want. He wasn't happy with what you did, because you failed. You failed._

Addie growled to herself, clenched her fists and tightened her grip on her paintbrush. Of course she failed, now didn't she…? Of course she messed up. She was just a messed-up person, whose only job was to make mistakes.

The path widened, and the jaws of the canyon stretched out, until Snake and Addie were walking along a path that stretched over an endless abyss. Rocks tumbled about their feet, bouncing off the path and twirling, pinging off the labyrinthine walls beneath them into the darkness.

Snake froze, and Addie already knew what that meant even before he dove behind a boulder and pulled Addie alongside him, even before her eyes drifted to the figures that walked by them—

Zero swooped by, his robes like the trailing tail of some great eagle swooping and casting narrowed eyes around the landscape as he looked around. Matt trailed behind him, sword held loosely at his side, his eye downcast as it reflected wildly off the obsidian path. At his back marched a line of Dark Matter soldiers, weapons bared, helms gleaming steadily as they clunked past Addie and Snake—

She glanced quickly over at Snake, who was crouched low with his hand wrapped instinctively around his Crystal Shard as it shone in the emptiness, keeping away the hostile demon whispers, the curtains of sightless fog. His face was stern, lips pressed shut. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before Snake tore his gaze away and silently rose to look at the receding figures as they stomped away.

Addie jabbed Snake in the shoulder with her finger and he turned his glare on her. She pointed at their retreating backs, hoping that Snake got the message. This was the only time, the one time they could get away with something like this.

If, if Zero hadn't seen them, they could surprise him… And they could do it. Somehow they could kill him. They could kill Zero and end it all—

Snake caught on. He shook his head, no, no, no way. He didn't move.

Addie silently cursed herself. What was she thinking? Zero would find a way. He'd kill them, when they had intended to kill him instead. He just could. He… he was… scary, too powerful.

The moment the thought crossed her mind, Addie cursed again. She… she couldn't admit that. Sure, she was scared, great. But… he wasn't that powerful, was he? He was just lucky, or he was using some dark magic like a cheater, or maybe it was a combination of both, or maybe it was something else—

She felt like slapping herself. What…

What was she supposed to think? How would you fight something, someone like Zero when she didn't know where he came from, what his full capabilities were…?

But they had to, they had no choice… They couldn't just lay down and let Zero get away with this, but then he'd just murder them all anyway, and God, shit—

Addie watched as Zero and his soldiers strode by, and she was shaking from head to toe; she could imagine herself strangling every single one of them, until their faces turned blue and their necks snapped like brittle sticks—

It felt like an eternity with Snake sitting there keeping the Crystal close, with Addie biting down on her thoughts in silence, but the world turned and a second passed. And when that second was over _Zero had turned around, _and Addie had ducked down as fast as she could, unable to prevent a stifled gasp from rising out of her throat—

God, no… No—

She could hear their footsteps drawing closer, and she closed her eyes and fought the urge to scream as their whispers drew closer to her ears—

Snake had already lunged over the boulder, tackling the soldiers that had already raised their weapons to strike and rolling past them. Addie was behind him, swinging her paintbrush at any in range, splattering the canyon walls with red paint that dripped like blood around the fallen Dark Matter warriors that tumbled to the ground—

She had caught up with Snake just as Zero saw them coming… He raised his pale hand and muttered a word to Matt, but they had already shoved the swordsman to the side as they bolted past Zero—

He roared, an inhuman roar of an infernal hound that made every bone in Addie's body shake, that nearly made her legs give way like falling logs, but she kept going as her breath scored the inside of her lungs—

And then suddenly Zero was standing in front of them, whip drawn back… Snake had already drawn his knife, and he was dodging to the side as Addie tailed close behind him. Zero's whip arced to her left as the path they followed forked into a different direction… One minute they were breathing in the stale air of an open, arid sky, and the next they were staggering through a tunnel that slid easily downward into the belly of some great, darkened beast—

And then they were through, and the tunnel opened up once again… They carved a sharp turn and slid down another hill as the canyons silently bared their limestone teeth around them. The world faded into a blur, and all Addie could hear was her own heartbeat, her own choked breath as her legs burned—

She didn't know how it had happened but they had stumbled into another cave, and Snake had just stopped her short of colliding into the tunnel wall. Addie fought for breath as she bent over, her sides heaving, her head light and full of empty air.

"Are— are they gone…?" Her voice came out as a forced whisper, a heavy gasp. "I hope they're gone, 'cause… 'cause I don't think I could… keep this up—"

"Yeah," Snake said, leaning back against the cave wall. "Yeah, they're gone."

"H-how can you think that," Addie suddenly surged, "when they could be anywhere, when Zero can apparently teleport and he doesn't need an army to kill every single one of us…? And, and we just ran from him, like… like goddamn animals, like the horrible little insects he thinks we are…! How…? Why, why bother? Shit, shit… We just ran from him when, when we could have killed him and, and— Maybe we should go back and kill him now because _I can't live like this anymore—!_"

"Addie, control yourself!"

She shook her head, the words she wanted to say piling behind her tongue as hot tears cascaded down her face. "Snake, I… I can't. I feel like giving up. It's… It's just me, right? It's all me. I'm the only one who wants to give up… I feel so useless, Snake, no matter what anyone says—"

Pounding a fist into the wall, she choked, "I feel useless, like everything I do means nothing, because Zero will end it all anyway. God, I can't. I can't." She hastily wiped her sleeves over her eyes. How many times had she cried recently? What was this, like, seven? Eight?

Maybe she was exaggerating, but how the hell was she supposed to know…?

She could feel Snake breathing close to her, and she suddenly wanted to turn her back on him and run away… Even if she ran straight into Zero, she'd be far away from Snake and that was all she wanted right at that moment, she never wanted to talk to him again if she could feel her heart tearing—

God, shit, shit—

Snake suddenly turned Addie around to face him, and she felt… God, she didn't know what to feel; she was staring at Snake and she couldn't stop herself from looking at his eyes, losing herself in the maze of hidden, shadowed thoughts that lurked behind them—

"Hang in there," was all he said.

He drew her in for a hug, and Addie felt something well up in the middle of her ribcage, something that came out as another sob stifled with her hands. His arms tightened around her, and she swallowed back the tears as she wrapped her arms around his chest.

She never wanted to let go, never, never… If it meant hugging someone, if it meant giving her heart away, fine, fine, God, let it happen… Anything would be better than Zero, anything—

After a while they drew apart, and Addie wiped the rest of her tears away. "That was smooth of you."

His half-grin seemed to lift a weight from his shoulders, from the bags underneath his eyelids. "I try."

"I… I think you'd make a good parent."

Snake's smile slowly drifted away, as if pulled by a distant current. "Yeah." But he looked… thoughtful, as if there was something in his thoughts he had finally found interesting enough to invest in—

Really… Was that it…?

She hoped it was, because he deserved it, he deserved to find something worth—

The floor began to shake, and the two of them had time to look at one another before the walls rumbled and cracks grew in the floor, and just as the ceiling collapsed in on itself behind them.

Addie screamed at herself to run, to run and to never look back, but she couldn't respond; she just stood there like a statue, a deer frozen in headlights, as the world imploded around them and fell in pieces of earth and skeletal obsidian, as boulders rained from the ceiling—

She took one step, then another, but by then something hard and cold had already slammed into the back of her head. She collapsed as her knees gave way, and knew no more.

XxX


	35. Moribund

XxX

_Moribund_

Addie slowly came to, blinked fallen dust out of her eyes. She twitched, twitched, but she didn't want to move. Not yet. The world was still spinning and spinning, and Addie needed some time to adjust. Just… Just a moment.

The rumble deep in the bowels of the earth had cooled, faded into a low murmur as the earthen crystals around her grew silent, still in their unmoving stasis. The air was choked with its own breath, as if waiting for the moment to exhale and unfreeze.

She rolled to the left and felt a gnawing pain bite down in the back of her neck, sinking its teeth in as her bones creaked. She stifled a yell as she felt the back of her skull, traced a disturbance through the steady trickle of blood flowing into the collar of her shirt. She slowly pressed a hand to the back of her head and tried to calm her building heartbeat.

It wasn't that big of a cut. Really. It wasn't. It was just a rock that had hit her.

She'd be fine. Really. It would all work out.

Addie squeezed her eyes shut, tried to drown out the dull buzz in her ears as she plopped her head down on the ground and faced the cavern ceiling. Her eyes welled as her neck burned, as something hot rolled down the length of her back. God, God, it hurt, it hurt like shit, and she didn't want to move at all… Why did it sting so goddamn much, why, why, this was unfair… Unfair like everything in life—

But she pulled herself up onto her feet and immediately swayed, staggering and barely catching herself against the wall. She felt tears streak down her face. God, it hurt, holy shit… Why, why—

Now, of all times… Why now…?

What great timing, really—

She rubbed her eyes with her hands and stemmed the drops of blood dripping from her nose. Breathing in rasping wheezes, Addie looked ahead of them to where the tunnel mouth had once welcomingly beckoned them closer but now was a haphazard plain of razor-edged stones and boulders like mountains.

She shook her head to clear the cobwebs, to still the fretful buzzing when she felt something in the air snap. Like a fragile wire, it twanged and twanged until Addie felt a chord in her own chest begin to fray—

Snake.

Shit. Shit. No.

She whirled around to face a towering blockade of stone and fallen earth, piled atop one another in an unforgiving mass of rubble. There was nothing to be seen on the other side, nothing but an unforgiving darkness and the countless trickles of dry sand like black waterfalls.

Addie stepped closer when she saw something jerk. And that something was a hand, sticking out between the gaps in the debris and closing, opening in a spastic burst of manic energy.

Shit, shit, shit—

She surged forward, and tossed one rock to the side. Her own arms screamed, begged her to relent but she would not. She kept going, kept tossing rocks even when her hands joined in the bloody chorus, ripping themselves against the stones Addie grabbed so long streaks of blood appeared in her muddied palms—

And she had tossed another rock to the side and seen a flash of his brown hair… He was laying facedown, cheek pressed against the cold floor with his left hand still moving on its own. Yet Addie could still see flashes of movement throughout his body… His chest was still rising, falling, and she wasn't hallucinating after all; he really was still alive—

They could make it through this; a cave-in wasn't enough to stop them—

But Snake was still out cold, and somehow when Addie pulled him closer he wouldn't move… Her scraped palms stung and moaned, but Snake remained where he was. Something was holding him back, and Addie would have to get rid of it first—

She bent down in the passageway as Snake's eyes blinked open, as she fought down the cold wave of ice that struggled through her blood. "Okay, Snake, just, just wait… I can pull you out, don't worry…"

He stirred fretfully, growling between his teeth as he pulled and wrenched away but could not move; the rocks around him would not give.

Why, why—

Addie looked to her left and saw that Snake's right arm was buried up to the beginning of his shoulder… Surely he could pull that out; it wasn't that big of a deal… He had a lot of muscle, so he was strong enough to move on his own—

"Here," said Addie, "I'll help you out… I don't think you need it but I'll help…" She took hold of Snake's left arm and pulled, but she had barely begun when Snake let out a howl as something in his right shoulder cracked. She let go, staggered back.

Shit, shit… "S-sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"Not your fault," he wheezed, sweat beading his brow.

Why was he sweating? It wasn't that hot out… It was quite cool, quite nice, actually, and the weather was fine… Maybe it was a bit too cold, but he shouldn't have been sweating at all…

She reached for her paintbrush as the stone wall gave an angry growl, as more dust rained from the shattered ceiling. "I can remove the rubble, don't worry… I can figure this out—"

Snake, breathing hard as blood pooled in his mouth, held up a hand. "You'll bring the roof down… Don't, you can't—"

"But then…" Addie could see the world shrinking around her, the shadows pressing and squeezing the life, the color out of the crystals in the walls, the indecisive ceiling that quavered above her. Her breath fluttered in her chest. "Then, then what… What do I do…? Because I'm not leaving you here, even though they might be out there—"

He growled again, clenched his left fist. He said, quietly, "Give me my knife."

There. She saw it, tucked close to a rock nearby. It must have fallen out of Snake's stuff, or maybe he dropped it earlier—

Addie fumbled for it, and its hilt tumbled into her palm. She took one glance at the blade, then at Snake's arm—

No, no.

"I can't," Addie squeaked, her panic bursting forth in a great wave as her head throbbed. "I can't. You can't make me… Snake, please, there has to be some other way… I, I can't… I don't think—"

"Addie," he coughed, face pale. "Please."

She shook her head. "Snake. I can't. What you're asking me is… Is… I just can't. I don't know if you can make me… So, we can think this through, just, just wait a minute—"

"We don't have a minute," he said carefully.

"Snake, no, no… Not this…" The end of her sentence trailed away.

Addie's voice left her.

Snake extended his left arm and gently pried Addie's fingers from around the hilt. And Addie couldn't struggle, she didn't feel like fighting back… Her wounded hands just followed along as Snake took his knife from her, opened hands like paper flowers being unfolded.

He reached the dagger over to the shoulder of his pinned arm, lips shaking just the slightest bit, arm wavering and hesitant. He brought the knife up—

Addie was about to say something, to say anything but by then Snake had slashed down with his left arm and there was a snap as blood spilled and splattered, as he let out a bone-chilling scream—

His knife tumbled out of his hand, and Snake fell limp, blood gushing quietly from his arm muscles severed and raw—

_Oh, God, no, nononono—_

Why, why—

But he hadn't fully cut through, and Addie felt vomit slowly bubbling in the back of her throat. He hadn't cut all of it off—

Addie couldn't feel herself doing so, but she had already reached over and sliced off the bit of flesh and bone that Snake hadn't been able to, and then Snake was coughing, blinking his eyes shut as he gasped and gasped—

Shit, shit—

She dug through her bag for something, anything, and at this rate he'd bleed out, he'd go into shock and pass out and she wouldn't be able to help him after that and then what, and then what, even though he'd done a lot and survived a lot of shit, but then—

"Okay, Snake, just, just—"

He gasped, his face slick with sweat as Addie pulled out a roll of bandages… She could feel herself tying the dressings around the stump but it felt so far away, like it was happening on the other side of the world, and she was watching herself move in slow motion—

She was pressing down gently on the stump, her fingers already wet with blood as she tightened another bandage over the exposed bone, the muscle that pulsed and squirmed like living things; her eyes cleared a bit and suddenly Addie felt something in her stomach rise and she felt like throwing up—

Addie steeled herself as she dragged Snake to his feet, and his blood gleamed red on her smock, her torn sleeves, but God, God, shit… Her own stomach was working even though there was nothing in it, shit—

He was shaking, his eyelids fluttering wildly as Addie guided him forward, up toward the mouth of the tunnel, away from the pool of blood, away from the rock wall and the remainder of his arm lying somewhere underneath it—

She supported him as they stumbled on, as rocks fell around them… They cleared the last crystal formations, skirted around the last fallen boulder—

They stepped out into the plains of black, the waving stalks of barren grass, and they were surrounded.

Zero stood at the head of a ring of Dark Matter soldiers, his eye narrowed, the bandages around his head wet with blood, and she didn't really need to see more of that so she turned her gaze to somewhere different, and it wasn't much of a difference because everything was so bleak and evil and she might as well just lie down here and never get up—

She didn't know she had loosened her grasp until Snake sank onto his knees then fell forward, but he caught himself with his left hand before he fell on his face—

Then he toppled onto his side, where he did not move, where his eyes closed and did not open again—

"Snake, y-you can walk, right? Please, please… Please get up—"

But he didn't move.

"It doesn't matter." There was nothing to see in Zero's face; his mouth was set and his eye was gleaming with light. "It doesn't matter where you go, what you do. This is what always happens. If only you had given in. If only—"

"_Shut up!_" Addie didn't care about anything anymore, nothing mattered, nothing mattered but maybe she could get Snake out of this, if it was one thing she could do to make a difference—

Zero said nothing. He held out his hand, and Addie staggered back, standing in front of Snake and holding her paintbrush in her bloodied fingers as she stopped and stood her ground.

"You're all pathetic. How many times have I told you? How many times have I said that all this fighting is worthless?" Zero spat at Addie's feet. "Yet you never listen. You're like stupid dogs, barking up the wrong tree and thinking you're saving the universe while doing so. Continue doing so. It will only make your lives worse."

Addie trembled where she stood, unable to stop the numb feeling in her head from spreading down to her feet. "We can fight for something, can't we?"

Zero looked at her, scanned her from top to bottom then took a glance at Snake's prone body. His mouth turned into a sneer. "No, no, you can't. You're hopeless at that, too. If you really were fighting for something you wouldn't be dying for it. It's a waste of your time. But I've been telling you that, and you haven't been listening."

Zero then turned to Matt, who hovered close by. "You see them? One cave-in and they come wandering out of the ground, crying out for their mothers and going to their deaths like lost sheep. You trusted these fools, Matt. You trusted them with every part of your soul you had. Let this be a lesson."

Addie screamed and launched herself forward. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered but killing Zero. Nothing—

She lashed her paintbrush down, and Zero dodged to the side. Her arm followed his movements and whipped an angry scar down his front. He snarled and staggered slightly, but Addie had already slashed again, forming an X on the front of Zero's robes. Now he yelled, and his yell was louder than a jet engine, louder than a storm of unchained thunder… She faltered for one second, one fractionally small moment; God, he was so loud, so… so angry—

She lowered her paintbrush but Zero was already moving—

His whip slammed into Addie's chest, and blood filled her mouth as she felt something underneath her skirt crack. She was thrown back, Zero's hand already wrapping itself around her neck as her vision turned dark. Her head collided with the ground for the second time, and Zero bent closer, his single red eye lit with the infernal fires of the eternally lost and forgotten—

"You… You're an idiot. A fool. I knew; I always did. And I thought that I could show you, but you never saw. You never knew." He tightened his fingers and Addie could feel her lungs burning, as if they were searing holes in her bones. "I tried to tell you. You never listened; you were too stubborn."

Addie kicked out, her foot connecting with skin. Zero's hand tightened; his gaze met with hers as spots danced in front of her eyes.

No, no, no… She would not ever do what he wanted, ever… Who cared about what he wanted Addie to know, who cared… She wrapped her own hands around Zero's freezing wrist and dug her fingernails in, hoping to draw blood—

"_Stop… trying…!_" Zero drew his fist back and thrust forward, and Addie felt her nose, her cheek crack… Then Zero had pulled his hand back and slammed his knuckles into her face again, and again, and again… And it was all starting to blur together; she was barely aware that her fingers had fallen away from his arm, that blood was working its way into her mouth and stinging her torn lip—

"_You are nothing,_" Zero screamed, "_Nothing… at… all!_"

Zero let go of her neck, and her head fell limp against the ground. The world had turned to a leaden murmur, a toneless whisper.

He stood over her, snarling, saying words that she could no longer hear as her eyes began to drift shut, as the sounds around her melted into one buzzing noise. She wanted to fight. She still wanted to kick his ass and never see him again but God…

She was tired, so tired, more tired than she had ever been in her life.

She closed her eyes and waited.

XxX

Snake lapsed in and out of the darkness, blinking then falling into the endless abyss, clenching his remaining fist but not having the will to move. No. No. He'd move, later. He just needed a few moments to… collect himself. He really did want to move. Just, not at that exact moment.

He could hear voices, muffled shouts as fists collided with flesh… Who was that…? Addie? It must have been.

Snake shifted, and the hot knifing pain in his right shoulder made the world pulse. He gritted his teeth. No, he wouldn't let that drag him down, either. He'd be fine, just fine. He just needed one second to—

Addie would be fine. She could hold her own, she really could…

Slowly, he cracked his eyes open. The motion sent him into a spiral, made his head and then his chest hurt, and then it just went down his legs and fell into his feet, until his whole body was burning. He was being burned alive, and there were no flames in sight.

He needed to rest. He really did. After all this… This was a lot to comprehend in a few minutes. Hours, days, whatever… It was a lot, and he needed to sleep it off—

No, no.

Not yet.

He could sleep later.

He tightened his left hand and rose onto his knees, gasping and keeping his teeth clenched so his screams came out as strangled grunts… Carefully, carefully, he raised his head as his one arm trembled, as he looked forward—

Through blurred eyes, he saw Zero lift Addie by the shirt collar, lift her body so he was holding it level to his chest. He was saying something and his mouth was moving, and he was looking at Snake…

Snake heard nothing. He was looking at Addie's face as her eyes opened gradually, as blood frothed at the corners of her mouth and in her nose. She met Snake's eyes and mouthed something… Something…

Something he couldn't hear. He just couldn't.

Snake opened his mouth to speak, to tell her something, anything to keep her focused… To comfort her—

Zero glanced down at her and walked her closer to the cliff's edge.

Snake fought the ice that spread in his blood.

No.

Zero, still watching Snake, raised his arm and dropped Addie over the edge.

_No. No._

Snake rose to his feet and drew his knife with his left hand. No. He'd find her. He'd find her and they'd kill Zero together, they all would… He'd find her, he'd find her, and they would all make it out of this—

Addie, please—

He had taken a single step forward when a bolt of dark fire flew from Zero's outstretched hand and sank into his forehead.

Snake jerked back and fell onto his knees, all strength gone. As he collapsed on his side he could see Zero standing above him, watching silently as Snake's vision faded into nothing.

XxX


	36. Phantasm

XxX

_Phantasm_

"Ribbon," Zelda said as she walked, "Addie left. That's all. You had nothing to do with it, because she left of her own will. She wanted to. She didn't want to stick with us, fine. Fine. But it's not your fault."

Ribbon stared at the ground as she flew on, pressed her lips tight. "I could have done something," she whispered, voice hoarse. "I could have convinced her to stay, and then maybe we'd be better off with more people to stick by. I… I just had to keep my mouth shut, didn't I, because I'm horrible at talking… I just… It made me feel weird; I don't know why… Maybe it's just because I'm bad at being supportive—"

"No, Ribbon. You're not." Zelda stared at her with narrowed eyes. "You're not, and I can name countless people who are worse at it than you."

"O-Okay, I guess. But," the fairy said quietly, "maybe I didn't say anything because I was afraid of… of ruining our friendship, or something. We've all been on edge."

"But… Ribbon. Did you trust her?"

"Who, Addie?"

"Yes. How many times had she ever expressed a desire to actually help us…? How many times had she cursed her own existence because she thought it was too much for her? How many times had she told you that it wasn't worth it?"

"Zelda," the fairy started, backing away slowly, "I… I can't answer that. She… she meant a lot to me. And she still does. She… she's more than I can describe."

"Is she, Ribbon? Is she? I don't know if… if that's enough of an answer."

"She is. She's trustworthy. She's seen stuff, like I have, and… and I think she's trustworthy, even though she can get angry and act really weird at times, and she's really pessimistic… Like, I wouldn't expect her to be happy all the time, but, she is depressing to be around sometimes."

Ribbon turned away, faced the blackened horizon as the light dimmed and scattered to the wind. "God, this is coming out horribly. She… Addie means a lot to me. That's that. Nothing else can express that, Zelda… I don't want to come off as selfish, immature… But I guess I'm doing a good job at that already, because I chased her away. I mean, what did you expect from someone like me…?"

Zelda stopped walking completely and whirled to face Ribbon as her heel cracked against the obsidian earth. "It was not you. It wasn't. It was Addie. She chose to. She wanted to. We don't need her to finish this."

Ribbon bit her lip, words piling against her tongue. "I… I miss her, Zelda. If she were still around, if she hadn't left… Then, then I'd feel a lot better. Maybe she left because… because she thought she would feel better on her own. Then, I guess we couldn't be around each other for long. And now, it's just us three. Just us."

"We'll find him. He'll find us. Whichever one comes first, but… he won't give up." Zelda squeezed in between trees and said, "We just need to keep going. We'll… We'll find someone we know. You know. Hopefully, it's someone friendly."

Ribbon flew on as she replied, "I… I hope. I really hope so. I want to be able to see him again, and… and…" She ducked underneath a black branch and held her Crystal tight against her chest. "And I hope he's okay. I hope he's doing okay. I hope they're doing fine. I mean, I'm sure he is. He's tough."

Zelda and Kirby looked at one another. How long had it been? How long had it been since Lucario had left them, since Snake had disappeared from the face of the earth? How many times had she woken up in the middle of a nightmare, breathing hard and fighting to keep her heart down in her chest?

How many times had she fought that one clinging fear, that bubbling sensation in her heart that sparked to life whenever she looked Snake in the eyes?

She didn't want to think of him the same way. He was different. He was unlike anyone else she had ever met, and he deserved the honor, the dignity of being regarded as his own person…

But…

No. Don't think about it. Keep going, keep moving. Don't hold your breath; don't wait for anything. It won't do any good, waiting for something that would never happen. Just…

Kirby's eyes said nothing, yet said everything, held everything in a space of a blink.

Zelda pulled her gaze away and turned to the horizon.

They had to hope. That was the only thing they had, and even then… Even then, they were going to lose that, too.

Weren't they?

Because none of this was fair. None of this was fair to fight. Every day was like living in a time loop, cycling through the same fears, the same doubts. The world was a dry husk, devoid of life, meaning, or an end to any journey. It was fickle, fierce, bitter at the rest of them for having everything and everyone to themselves. It was them against an existence that hated them.

No, not even that.

It just wasn't fair.

She kept thinking, kept remembering… Remembering the things Link had done, the way he had looked at her…

She rubbed her forehead. No, no. Don't think about him, don't think about how he turned his back on you and everything you stood for… Don't think about what kind of person he became, what… _monster_ he let himself become—

Gods…

Zelda was dimly aware of Ribbon calling her name, reaching her childish fingers out to touch her shoulder. But she was miles away, suspended in space, lost in a maze of black stars and endless midnight. No. Ribbon could wait. She was patient enough. She didn't need everything at the exact moment that she asked for it.

How was any of this fair? How was anything in life fair at all? Everything, so dark and depressing, but that's how it had always been. Whether or not Zelda was there, whether or not Zero was in charge… The world was just… unfair, and that's all it was. It could turn on its head and let something nice happen only for the opposite to happen right after…

"Zelda, Zelda… Please—"

Ribbon, just wait… Just wait for a moment, if only for a mere second—

Zelda saw Ribbon dart ahead, saw Kirby follow her lead as they sped past Zelda. She'd follow them when she felt like it; she had plenty of time… But…

She needed time to… collect herself. To convince herself.

Her head felt light as she swayed in place, pummeled by a silent wave that thrust her into the sands of the eternal, celestial shores. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to turn away from the ocean of anger, the tides of the lost and the forgotten, the sullen and the forsaken. They were everywhere, floating in the sky, whirling through the wind as streamers of violet arcs and lavender auroras.

She took one step, and the ground resonated with the impact. It roared at her, bit at her heel to turn her back. _Don't go on, don't go… You'll hate it. You'll hate yourself in the end. You'll lose, like you always do. You'll regret it. There's nothing left for you, for anyone._

Zelda clenched her fist. She wouldn't. She wouldn't give up, no matter what happened next. No matter how many times she doubted her cause or her friends, or…

Or herself.

Her mind cleared as the tempestuous seas retreated, as the waves settled and dissipated as the earth's echo dimmed and retreated below. She could hear the ambience, the noise of static wind, of unmoving skies and silent moons.

And she could hear Ribbon and Kirby ahead of her… Ribbon's voice was rising, and her words were jumbled, mixed together…

Zelda followed her voice and barreled past the edge of the forest.

Ribbon and Kirby were staring at the ground, gazing silently at Snake's crumpled body and the knife held in his limp left hand, at the bleeding stump that clung pitifully to his right shoulder, at the blood that crusted over his nose and his cut lip. Below them the ground ended abruptly, its snarling gulf of a mouth opening malevolently, taunting them, daring them to jump in and follow it to the end. A river gurgled at the bottom in darkness, echoed strangely as it struggled to reach them, to tunnel its way out and carve its own path.

Snake. Snake.

Finally. Finally. Oh, gods. After all this time—

Gods, please… please, hang in there—

Zelda bent over his body, felt for a pulse. The white noise of Dark Star faded away as she ran her hand over his chest, felt at his left wrist, his neck, anywhere. Please, please, please, it can't end like this, there needs to be a pulse somewhere—

His chest fluttered once as he wheezed softly.

Zelda fought the urge to laugh, to laugh and never stop. This… this loop must have been funny for Zero. He must have laughed, must have cheered at their repeated mistakes, their faults and broken promises. This must have been entertaining for him, that sick monster, that horrible, miserable excuse for an angel or whatever he was… He must have been so entertained by their show, their performance or whatever he thought it was. He must have been so excited to see them suffering again and again, over and over—

This was a joke to him. This was a joke to Zero, and he would never stop playing it over and over, over and over until, until he—

Until he was satisfied with their deaths, until he was certain that they had lost it all, had given up everything, Zero would keep going, keep this joke alive. He thought it was fine; he thought it would be worth watching to keep doing this and never stop until he gave the whole world reason to hate him—

Zelda felt Snake's forehead as she sat in silence, teeth clenched, chest burning.

Nearby, Ribbon bent low, wiped frantically at her eyes as she held up Addie's paintbrush, its owner nowhere to be seen, its hairs frayed, tangled, and coated in dried paint and blood.

"Zelda," Ribbon choked.

"I know," said Zelda softly, gently. "I know."

XxX

Zelda sat next to Snake, watched his chest rise and fall in uneven pulses. His breath blew out of his mouth in slight gusts as his eyelids flickered. His left hand clenched, unclenched in rhythm with his beating heart.

And it was horrible.

Even now, even after all of this…

Zelda felt shards jangling in the bottom of her chest, clinking and chiming against one another whenever she talked, moved, had any sort of feeling. They were always there, and no matter how many times she cleared them away, something else would shatter and leave her with another mess to mop up.

There was no reason to clean it up if it was going to keep happening. No. She wouldn't waste her time with that.

She'd move on. She'd push the mess into a corner and forget about it. It was just another problem, another conflict, another fear that she could keep hidden—

Wringing her hands, Zelda stared at Snake, at his shifting face, his silently moving mouth.

Had he seen Addie? Had he been there, all of this time, and had he abandoned them on purpose? Maybe he'd gone with Zero instead and volunteered to join him, and maybe Addie had tried to stop him… Or maybe Snake had gotten angry at something and Addie had to stop him and it had gotten out of hand—

No, he wouldn't do that.

He wouldn't do that to Addie. Or Ribbon, or Zelda, or Kirby. Maybe he would to Lucario, because then Lucario would get what he deserved.

Zelda pushed away the clouds that gathered above and drove burning spikes of lightning into her heart. He wouldn't do that. He was too… driven, too selfless to do that.

But she doubted that.

She doubted that, and she hated herself for doubting it.

Heat rose to her cheeks. This… this was ridiculous. There was no reason for Snake to do that, and Zelda was just letting the pressure get to her… But after all this time, after all those awkward exchanges and misplaced silences, she knew him. She knew him well enough to be sure.

So, then…

Why did she doubt herself?

Her thoughts were interrupted when a hand clamped feebly onto her wrist, the frozen fingers shaking as they tightened around her arm.

She looked down, met Snake's bleary eyes as he blinked, coughed gently and blew air through his nose. His cheeks were pale, stark against the trails of dried blood like rusty streaks.

"Snake… I'm here."

"Zelda," he choked, "w-what are you—"

"We found our way back here… After you went missing, we…" She took a deep breath before she said, "…We figured out some stuff, cleaned up as much personal garbage as we could, and… And I guess it was for nothing, because Addie left us the moment we got here. We moved on. We didn't want to dwell on it."

He let go of Zelda's wrist and let his hand fall back. "Why?"

"She said that… she didn't want to throw her life away for something that might not even succeed. She… she thought we were wasting our time, because Zero had been messing with us for so long and she didn't see a… a way out."

_And that wasn't even all of it._

Snake stared at the open sky of black above. "Yeah," he replied. "I know."

"She told you?"

He nodded. "I… I had to spend a few days with her. She gave me a lot of reasons for not fighting."

Zelda thought about that. She'd have to ask him. What justification could Addie have for abandoning them, leaving them behind and just forgetting about them? They couldn't just forgive her, not after all they had seen. She should have known…

_Known what, exactly? That their cause was hopeless from the beginning, and she should have just bailed in the first place?_

"Where is she, by the way? We found her paintbrush nearby—"

"She's gone."

"You can't say that," Zelda hissed, "not when she might still be alive… Zero might have taken her, or something, and we could get her back… There's no telling where she is. But, we will find her. We can. Snake, you can't give up on her. She wouldn't want that—"

"I saw it."

"Snake… You, of all people, you… You can survive anything, and I'm sure Addie can, too. She's tougher than you would assume, much tougher… Have faith. We'll find her again. Addie won't give in, either. As long as we believe in her…"

_But since when has belief saved us?_

She wanted to believe. Zelda wanted to believe, so much so that her chest burning from the longing, the desire that lay dormant there. Addie… She couldn't. She wouldn't. After all they had experienced together… Was their time together really worth that little? "Snake. You have to… have some kind of faith. There's always something to hope for, at the end of all of this."

Snake was silent.

"She isn't what you think she is," Zelda said quietly. "She's not dead, Snake. You can't assume that."

"It's not an assumption."

Zelda sat back, unable to hold down her tears. "She… she left us. If she hadn't left, if we had somehow convinced her to stay… If, if we were better at what we did, more confident, do you think…?"

Snake folded his left arm over his chest and said nothing. His gaze was miles away.

"Snake, she… Did Addie ever say anything about hating us? About… wanting to forget about us?"

After a tense moment, Snake rasped, "She thought that she could leave us and hide again. Zero wouldn't come after her. But," he added softly, "there was something else she hated."

"What was it?"

Snake shook his head.

"If you know, could you tell us?"

"She had that look on her."

Zelda glanced at him. "How would you know?"

He let his head loll back as he looked over at his bandaged stump of a right arm. "Because I've been there, too."

She didn't know what to say. She looked away, felt her chest tighten as her breath burned in her throat. Zelda clenched her fists and closed her eyes.

What was there to look at? How long had this been going?

Of course she couldn't answer those questions. She couldn't answer anything, if she doubted herself, doubted… others, doubted the very thing she put her life on the line for, time and time again.

Surely… Surely Snake knew by now…? That she was… nothing, compared to him, compared to his sense of duty. Where were his greatest fears, his doubts, his anger? He just… existed, lived for whatever he felt was his purpose, his sole responsibility. And Addie…

Addie must have seen something there, must have felt enough of a feeling to stick by Snake.

So, how were people like that convinced that Zelda was trustworthy?

She lay down next to him, glaring up at the soulless sky as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Gods… She was tired, more tired than she could ever describe. And, others wouldn't understand if she told them. They would disregard her feelings, toss them aside because her feelings weren't worth talking about. But, at the same time…

Who knew? Who knew how other people would take it…?

Her mind seemed to simmer with these gloomy ideas, these banks of turbulent, gray anger until a single thought pierced through: _You doubt them, you doubt yourself. You doubt your cause. You doubt your past, present, future, and you doubt Zero. Is this worth it? Is getting to know Snake and the others better worth the suffering? Choose. You could find a way out of this. You could leave this so-called "destiny" behind. You didn't ask for it._

She wasn't sure if these thoughts were her own.

"Snake," she started suddenly, "we need to finish this. We need to. We've had the choice to back out, but… We can't wait any longer. We can't hesitate anymore."

He watched her keenly. "Where'd this come from?"

"We can't afford to lose anyone else."

_Because then, I'd have nothing._

But Zelda couldn't get herself to say so out loud.

XxX


	37. Sagacity

XxX

_Sagacity_

Lucario sat in the darkness of his room, thinking with his head on the table, staring at the walls that had no windows, glancing at the door he left ajar. No one would come to visit unless someone wanted an errand done, a job completed. There were no leisurely strolls down this wing, no midnight visits or hang-outs with his brothers-in-arms.

What did he expect? At least he had a room, especially after all the stuff he had been through with… the others.

That's all they were: the others. Just a crowd of nameless people, yet another group of hearty, headstrong individuals who would turn their backs and do the exact opposite of what they promised to do. Change one part of their world, and their personalities will follow suit. They couldn't do anything right. They had proved that, time and time again. And he had had enough.

He turned his head away from the door. He had a comfortable bed, and the window may have been small, high up… but at least he had one. And Zero…

Zero had been… welcoming. He hadn't been hostile, and he hadn't threatened Lucario with anything serious yet… There was the usual patrol duty, and the supervision of the soldiers atop the walls, the routine cleaning of weapons in the armory. But…

Honestly, they were just Dark Matter. They all were, and those that weren't may as well have been. They were possessed, and Lucario was surrounded by them. Everywhere he went he would see someone he knew, only for that person to not recognize him. Obviously. They were possessed, and none of them had the mental strength to fight it. They were all puppets, controlled by the masterminds that lived inside their own bodies. Pathetic. He couldn't trust any of them.

Well, there was one.

There had always been—

Lucario blocked out the thought, rubbed the side of his temple with a calloused paw. He didn't need that. He didn't want to think about him, that day when… when the sea swallowed him.

He was dead. He was as good as gone.

And Lucario needed to get over it.

He pulled himself to his feet, took a moment to get his bearings. Things were always dark, always cramped, and the bed always smelled of mold and mildew, but it was a comfortable bed… It was warm, and the mattress wasn't too rough.

The jackal Pokémon sat down on the edge, smoothing the blankets underneath him. He stared at his paws, and did the only thing he had done for the past… few weeks, months, years, however long it had been: he thought.

If he wanted to, he could have left a long time ago. Security on his side of the palace was minimal, and it was as if his wing was… empty. No one spoke to him, unless… Unless they were on a mission, on a job, doing some sort of recon. There was nothing to talk about when all of them were being piloted by someone, something completely different. Every day was the same to them: serve Zero, spread his glorious words and enlightened purpose, be rewarded with another chance to better serve his cause of spreading sorrow and pain and whatever else Zero wanted.

Lucario had the freedom to do whatever he wished, so long as it benefitted Zero.

After all, his door had been left ajar for a reason.

He wasn't in prison. He was doing just fine, following orders and trying his hardest not to antagonize Zero or Matt further. He…

He answered to them now. But here, in the privacy of his own room…

He answered to himself, and his thoughts.

Lucario whispered to himself, to the silent stony walls, anything that would turn its ear and listen. "I'm fine here. I'm in no danger of any sort. No longer do I have to run, do I have to keep my defenses up and watch for intruders in my makeshift shelter. No, I am quite alright. And…"

_And I'm not dying for a purpose I don't believe in._

Closing his eyes, Lucario leaned back and let himself fall onto his bed. Sleep beckoned him closer, and his thoughts drifted further, reached beyond the known world and stepped into the veiled mist of his dreamscapes—

_But you betrayed them._

His eyes shot open.

"No," he snarled gently to the ceiling, dripping with water and shining in the violet torchlight. "I betrayed no one. They were lying to themselves. They were traitors to their own purpose, their own cause. They doubted it, and I saw it. I cannot be at fault for doubting them when they doubted their own."

Yes. That was right. That had always been his policy, and it had never been proven wrong.

The ceiling said nothing back. What could it say? His argument was sound; his evidence was plausible and proven. There was nothing more to add.

Lucario was about to close his eyes once again when he felt a tug at the back of his head. It wasn't anything painful, but it forced him to his feet and guided his steps over to the table in the corner.

Why…? He didn't need his weapons at a time like this…

His medical supplies were leaning against the wall, gathering a thick carpet of dust. His glove and throwing knives were lined up in a row on the tabletop, gleaming and pulsing with vivid energy, rivaled only by the warmth of a living soul. But they always did. They were weapons, designed to enhance his aura. That's all they were.

Yet the pull on his mind grew stronger as he bent over to pick up his glove. The pull gained traction, momentum, and jumbled static clouded his thoughts as he let the aura flee from his paws, those sapphire trails embedding themselves in the stone set at the base.

Of course it had been a Crystal Shard.

But just because Ribbon had declared herself as the steward of the Crystal didn't mean that she owned the damn thing. If she was a steward, she was merely a guardian waiting for the right person to inherit it. Right?

Of course. Of course that was what it was.

He hadn't needed to tell her what it was, though. She wasn't the one who had found it in the first place, in Dark Star. She hadn't been the one to embed it in her glove. How could she have any right to it in that moment, when she hadn't been the one to find it, to use it, to let himself grow and learn from its endless magic?

Yes. She didn't.

When the aura licked the sides of the Crystal, Lucario felt a searing spike jab through his brain, snapping at the space in between his eyes. He stumbled back, dimly recognizing that he had taken the Crystal Shard out of the glove, out of the magical casing, the cloth weaving that had shared energy with the Crystal so willingly—

Lucario fell against the wall, squinting his eyes shut as the pain reached a pounding frequency, a jarring intensity that rattled the teeth in his lower jaw. He gasped for air and hunched over at the waist, leaning on the cold stone wall for support.

This… This had happened before. Several times, after he had joined Zero. Maybe it had been a side effect of—

Well, nevermind. This had been a common occurrence: splitting headaches, white noise building in the very back of his warring conscience. But, never had it been like this.

Then…

The pain had disappeared.

"Hey, Lucario, it's been… a long while, huh? Well, actually, we've never talked. Not like this. You've never really acknowledged my presence, but I guess you'd have to now. I mean, I'm the one talking and stuff." The voice came suddenly, out of the silence of his darkened sleeping chambers. "Maybe you've gotten close enough to me that you can actually hear my voice with your ears and not with your _scary magical powers_—"

"Enough!" Lucario tightened his fist around the Crystal Shard from his glove. "Identify yourself…!"

The voice carried a light inflection, gentle and graceful as it flowed from word to word. "Oh, I don't need to do that," the mysterious entity said easily, lightly. "I've already done that, countless times. You've just drowned me out, replaced me with something you feel more comfortable, cozy with. After all, you were never one to take change lightly. Take one brick away, and the entire foundation of your idyllic world comes crashing down. Boom, bam, boom. Just like that."

"So…" The Pokémon felt a snarl building in his throat, swelling until he could feel his chest vibrating. "You think you know how I feel?"

"Well, a lot of your kind, your friends… your comrades, I guess… have the same doubts, fears, problems, personal issues that need a massive crutch to deal with. It's not… Look, it's not like you're special in that way. Everyone has problems. And what I think is that you guys need to figure it out together."

In his free paw, Lucario summoned to life a sphere of energy, blue and vivid like a cloudless sky, an untainted ocean's surface as it swept fiercely across the earth. "You really don't get it. So before I get violent, can you please tell me who you are?"

"Oh, there's no need to do that. You'll only be proving Zero right, and you know it."

"What…?"

"Forget it. I can't get through to you, and I couldn't get through to her. She just… she just wasn't cut out for it. Then again, who is, right at that time? At such a young age, too. She's seen some shit, that's for sure… Though as to why she hasn't, y'know, given in, like _someone I'm talking to right now_, is beyond me."

Lucario snarled again, in warning.

"Fine. You wanna know who I am?" The voice tickled Lucario's ears, and there was something about it that resonated, that just, _pinged_ somewhere in his brain, like a quiet alarm going off in the dead of night, in a bank of cold fog. He… he recognized it.

Lucario was silent as the realization hit him, as the knowledge found its footing.

The voice seemed to sense it. "Yeah, yeah. You get it. For once. For once, you aren't being stupid about your theories or, or ideas about the stupidity and lack of teamwork you see from other people. Great, huh? It sure does feel great, and it really does wonders on—"

"Tell me who you are!"

The current that raged in Lucario's growl stopped the voice dead in its tracks.

After a tense pause, it said, "I guess you don't fully get it. Look down at your palm, what you're holding."

Lucario started.

The Crystal Shard…?

"Yep," it said. "That's me."

XxX

"So, I could spend a few days talking about what I am and why you can hear me talk only just now and sound incredibly stupid and cliché, but I'm not going to. So I'll make it short. Call me Kris, and you really should leave now. Blah, blah, et cetera, et cetera. Get going!"

Lucario shook himself from his moment of reverie. "And why in the name of anything would I do that? I'm safe here."

"Yeah, maybe you should look at what you and everyone else have been through and tell me that." The Crystal Shard, Kris, snapped as it grumbled, "People these days, think they can recognize and know everything about everyone if they've seen, like, three people kill each other… Really. Nowhere is safe, so get your head out of the gutter and leave already!"

"You still haven't told me why I would do that…"

"To find the others, duh. Do I need to give you any more info? Do I need to write you a letter of permission, give you a map or something? Why else would you leave, Mr. Hermit? Why else would you leave Zero behind?"

_The others._

Zelda, Snake, Kirby, Addie…

The idea felt so… right, so great and wonderful. It just worked; it just… did. For one second, Lucario's head lifted into the clouds. He could find them. He could find the others and right all of his wrongs, return everything to normal, and he… He would have played a huge part in saving the world, and then everything about the universe would feel so much more satisfying, so much… better.

A moment later, he came crashing back down.

He couldn't. He just couldn't…

Zero.

Zero wouldn't let him. He never would. And…

"They wouldn't forgive me if they tried," Lucario said, frowning to himself as he stared into the Crystal Shard's gleaming depths, crystalline core. "Not a single one of them could forgive, and maybe it is the same with me. It's… It's not something I want to try again."

Kris grew strangely quiet. After a moment, it spoke. "Well, maybe you should rethink that. Keep hoping, y'know?"

"No, I don't know. What's the point in hoping if there is no one out there to listen?"

"Well, you need a lot of work, don't you? You're bored and pretty much jobless thanks to Zero, so you're brooding, you're being… angsty, depressing, like that will make them any more interested in trying to help you. Great, great. So how about you get out of your shell and go beg for their forgiveness already?"

"I won't beg. There are better things to look for."

"Oh, well, you've hit a gold mine, haven't you, Mr. I'm-Too-Smart-and-Knowledgeable-for-Myself-to-Care-about-Anyone? You really have found better things to look for with the whole joining-Zero thing. Stabbing Snake? Even I didn't think you'd go that far, and I was there when you smack-talked Ribbon. Jeez." Kris rose from Lucario's paw. "I've been around you for a long time, you know. I've seen a lot, and so have you. But… I think you should go back."

"And why, why, oh why, should I listen to you? I answer to no one, no one but my own doubts and fears! At least I can understand their will, their direction. How else would I be alive? If I wore my heart on my sleeve like you want me to, then, I'm afraid to say, you wouldn't be here." Lucario pounded a fist into the wall, and Kris's mute form hovered backward slowly. "I can't go back. This is how things are. Accept it."

"Oh, and you're just going to stay here, and accept her death, their inevitable end?"

"'Her?'"

Kris suddenly surged closer to Lucario's face, nearly touching his canine nose. "Addie. Addie is _dead, gone_, and you are never going to see her alive and well again. She is as dead as a doorknob, as gone as… I don't know… But maybe if I came up with a good enough analogy you would _care more, huh_…?!"

Lucario felt his pulse race, his heart tighten. "She can't be."

"And yet here you are, ranting about the failures of others and how egoistical and stupid and nasty they are, and look at you! _Zero killed her! _Zero killed Addie, and you're just sitting here, pretending that that's how it should be."

"Because there is no other way! What should I do, sacrifice myself for something that will never work?" Lucario gestured around the room, pointed frantically out the window that seemed just out of reach. "Look around you. How do you think Zero has lasted this long? He has managed to destroy our greatest icons, the things we cherish the most…! He has taken from us everything we held of value… And, then these people come along, and… How can you not think that Zelda and the others will fail, just as the people before them did?"

Kris snapped, "They are completely different from those before! Stop making stupid comparisons!"

"They haven't changed, Kris. None of them ever will. They're all the same, and they'll go to their graves the way we all will, regardless of how much… _love_ we have: alone, helpless, bitter. At least Zero has shown me that much."

Kris's voice was shrill, high-pitched. "Oh, so the nice, pretty bits of knowledge Zero gives you justify the lives he's ruined? Would you like to understand the whole world for the sake of its future? Would you like to sit on the sidelines and pretend that you're fine where you are?"

Lucario relaxed and leaned against the wall. He let his chest settle as he breathed through his nose, held out an exhale. "Yes, I would. There's no point getting involved. I've seen that much. I know that much."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, you don't want forgiveness, you don't want to get to know them better, you have absolutely no conscience whatsoever, and you could care less if Addie was dead or not. Great. Now I know who I'm dealing with. Hell, I should have known a long time ago." Kris began floating to the window, as if itching to get away from Lucario. "Well, I'm not going to stay and give you a monologue you'll forget about in five minutes. I'll find the others on my own, or get them to find me, or something."

Lucario stood there, frozen in indecision. Thoughts nagged at him from every corner, until his head was filled with raucous jeering, taunting, yelling, pleading, begging, cursing… It seemed to come from all directions, and the longer he stood there, the faster his heart pounded. He… He just couldn't. There were so many voices, so many opinions, all wanting to leave their mark, all wanting him to go in a separate direction.

Who was he to listen to?

"Wait, Kris… I, I don't know if you should leave now."

Its next words were like a knife cleaving through Lucario's head. "Oh, and why in the name of anything would I do that…? I know you're selfish, and I don't think I can get you to see it. Look in a mirror, Lucario. You ever done that before? Yeah. It's helpful."

"If there's anything I want to do, I want to prove Zero wrong."

"Oh?" Kris's voice was placid, graceful once again as more insults spewed forth. "And where'd this come from? You come up with that on the spot? Man, I wish I could be as convincing as you. You're the one who signed up to work for him. Maybe I should know. I shared your aura for heaven knows how long. But, I don't, and maybe I don't want to."

"Is that why I can hear you now?"

"No," Kris said, and Lucario could imagine it shrugging. "I dunno. Maybe your conscience is trying to connect with the thing that's kept you going for so long and relight a spark of something somewhere? Don't ask me. It's probably some stupid philosophy crap that you wouldn't care about."

"Are you this vulgar all the time?"

"Hey, this is what it sounds like in your head." Kris levitated closer to the window high above. "Don't blame me for your potty mouth. You shared your bad vibes with the world, and this is what happens."

From behind Lucario came an abrupt hissing. Lucario whirled around, paws clenched tight as he faced a Dark Matter soldier standing at the door. He recognized this one; it wasn't like it mattered, though. Dark Matter in any form couldn't make friends.

_Guess we have something in common_, Lucario grumbled to himself.

The foot-soldier looked about the room, hissing to himself. He turned to Lucario and spoke, voice raspy and dry, "Zero wants to see you. He will give you a special mission."

Before anyone could react, Kris had zoomed straight up to the armored soldier's face and snapped, "Zero doesn't tell any of us what to do. You're like sheep, y'know that? You just follow him because that's the only thing you can do—"

"Kris," Lucario snarled, "shut up!"

The Dark Matter soldier had drawn his sword. "You are unknown. I will have to report this, after I deal with you. No hard feelings."

"Lucario," Kris reprimanded, "these barbarians have no sense of decency or respect! And as they say in the human world, birds of a feather flock together…!"

Something in Lucario's mind snapped. He lunged, not at Kris's transparent form but at the soldier, aura flashing from his paws. He leapt upon the armored chest, punched through. Sapphire sparks flew as Lucario dented the black metal. The soldier roared, backed up and swung his arms wildly. Lucario kicked out, slammed his fist into the open visor on the blackened, chiseled face, throwing the clanking, bubbling figure against the wall in the hallway. The soldier fell to the floor in a heap, blue smoke trailing from his body as his splayed arms and legs withered.

As the clanging echo of his empty armor reverberated down the hall, Lucario backed up, suddenly very aware of the magic flowing from his paws, of the itch he felt to lash out at Kris. "He'll know. Zero will know."

"Well, then, now would be a very good time to leave." Kris floated nearby, buzzing at Lucario's ear. "If you don't want to be here when Zero comes around, then I suggest not staying."

"How can you treat all of this like it's a game to you?" Lucario edged closer, rumbling, "How can you treat this so casually? I can't go back."

"But you can't stay here, either. And knowing you, you don't want to. Don't you have anything better to do than to kill your 'friends'? Wouldn't you like to feel good about something for once in your life?"

Lucario felt something tighten in his ribcage as his stomach twisted into a knot. "Zero won't let me. He wouldn't let any of us. He… he's been in control for a long time, Kris, and I don't think it'll end any time soon. No matter what anyone else does. Zelda, Kirby, Ribbon. What's the point? They'll be dead soon enough."

Kris flew ever closer as she droned on. "Keep thinking like that and they will be."

Shouts, loud and strong, came down the corridor. Lucario tensed, then dashed back to the corner where his weapons were. Strapping his pouch around his waist and sheathing his knives at the belt, he said, "I no longer have a choice. I can't stay, and I don't want to leave. But…"

"But," intervened Kris, "if you stay, you're dead. Make your choice, or don't. Y'know, it's not my problem. I know where Ribbon is, and I can just go back to them. I've had an awakening, you see, so I guess you can say that I'm smarter now... And I know that you're hesitant. I can travel fine on my own now, but you're here. I'll feel guilty, believe it or not. And I really don't—"

"Fine," Lucario snapped as he ran back into the hall, feet pounding madly. "I don't need to hear it."

He turned a corner, dashed down another adjoining hallway. Clattering, clanking noises came from behind him, and hisses trailed through the halls, as if whispering of his hidden treachery, his sleight of hand.

As he ran, Kris floated alongside him. "So I think you're still confused by me, by what I am and why I'm here now, but that shouldn't concern you. What you really should focus on is getting out of here—"

"I never said anything." His breath gushed through his chest as he sprinted down the length of another corridor, countless doors and hidden passageways blurring by. "We can talk later."

"Um, you know where you're going, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Okay, but with your magic Zero-is-so-great powers, can't you just teleport us out of here, or shadow-travel, or something? Zero can do that. So can the others. So I don't see why you're doing this, this running bit. This is stupid."

Lucario snarled to Kris even as another line of soldiers flooded through the doors at the far end of the hall and blockaded the way out. They drew their weapons and surged forward, eager for blood.

Lucario felt himself tense, muscles tight, but Kris had already flown in front of him. Its otherworldly light filled the room, bathed the walls in an eerie, ethereal sheen. The light grew, swelled, expanded outward as it blanketed the world in the gleam of a clear winter's morning.

There was silence, long and frozen, crystallized in the timeless gleam that hung motionless around them.

Then, when the outermost colors of the mildewed hall had come into view, Kris called out. "Okay, Luc. They're gone. We're all good."

Lucario blinked the dancing spots out of his eyes, cautiously stepped forward between the dissolving bodies of the Dark Matter soldiers. "I could have handled that on my own."

"Well, great. But I helped anyway, because Zero won't be able to track you for a while. That blast left some interference behind."

"So, why did you do that now? Why not earlier?"

"Because it wouldn't have been useful!" Kris zoomed straight up to Lucario's face. "You can say whatever you want, but you're not controlling me. I mean, you never really were. We were sharing power, that's all. And don't think it was anything more than that. Okay? Okay, great."

Lucario sped forward, threw the great entrance doors open. They slammed behind him as he sprinted across the threshold, shut closed with a final, resonant _bang_ as Lucario ran into the central courtyard, and the guards out front turned to look back. The Pokémon lunged past them as the alarm spread atop the fortified walls, as warriors in full armor clanked along the ramparts and climbed to meet Lucario in the inner courtyard.

"Keep going," urged Kris as it kept pace with him. "Keep going, ignore them, ignore them, trust me, just trust me on this one, don't fight, we'll get stuck here—"

_Like I would listen to you._

If anything, Lucario should have been the one panicking, not Kris. Besides, Kris was smaller; she was a harder-to-hit target, and she wasn't made of skin and fur and bone, it was just a floating Crystal Shard that had suddenly gained sentience, Arceus knows why—

Lucario summoned his aura blade, sliced down the length of an archer's side. The armored assailant fell, gargling, as Lucario jumped over him and rocketed from soldier to soldier. The world through his eyes had gained an incandescent blue tint as more warriors fell, as their weapons collapsed, useless, inert, to the ground. His arms ached, his head burned but he could barely hear it, there were too many soldiers and he couldn't afford to focus on the discomfort he felt; it would disturb his aura and—

He leapt up a stone staircase to the top of the wall, felled a halberdier with a single stroke. An arrow sailed by his ear, and he didn't want to see where it would land, he didn't want to think about what would happen if one hit him, and he didn't want them to catch him, shit—

Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped down to the other side of the wall, his feet landing hard on the obsidian ground outside of Zero's palace. He heard the raucous crowd of soldiers burst open the outer doors of the walls and trail him, but he wouldn't stay. He wouldn't.

But he was tired, really tired… All of a sudden, he felt like sleeping and not getting up, ever.

But he had to leave.

And he didn't want to give Zero another chance to change his mind; he didn't want to wait around for Zero to try to kill him again… No. He'd had enough of that, but he'd had enough of Zero, overall, but he'd also had enough of seeing Zero, and he… Well…

He wanted to see Zero dead.

It was all very confusing, very baffling, and Lucario really didn't know how to react… Zero must have known by now, must have felt Lucario's presence leave, or something. There was no way this was going to work.

As if in reply to his thoughts, Kris barked, "Stop stalling! You'll have time to think after we leave!"

"Quit it," Lucario said sharply. "I know already."

Just as Lucario began to push onward, he heard a roar echo from the bowels of the palace, as if the earth itself were overcome with a bellowing, venomous rage that made the ground shake.

Once upon a time, Lucario would have felt fear, anger, guilt, something.

Now, as he turned his back on Zero, he felt nothing.

XxX


	38. Avowal

**A/N: Hi, there. If you've been keeping up with the story since the start, here's a reminder that chapter 7 (Impetus) has been deleted completely and replaced with an extra bit in the beginning of the *new* chapter 7 (Parallels). Thanks, and you won't be seeing much of these, don't worry.**

XxX

_Avowal_

Lucario could run no longer. He stopped by the rushing, curling banks of a river, leaned on the side of a sloping tree that hung over the jagged banks as he caught his breath.

Kris caught up to him, found her place at his shoulder. "No one is following. Strange. Didn't think my protection would last that long. Maybe they gave up. Maybe they didn't think you were worth it."

"Zero certainly didn't." Lucario held a paw against his throbbing forehead. "I'm sure he believes he and his entourage has better things to do than chase me."

"Why don't you look in a mirror…? You were one of that entourage just a few minutes ago." Lucario felt the heat from Kris's otherworldly glow wash over his face. "I could've done this on my own, but you really needed the exercise. Fresh air, y'know? You spent way too long in that palace, milling around in the dark and wondering what you have in common with the thugs, wastrels, outcasts, and the people who lost what they stood for. But, I really didn't need to look to hard to find the similarities, if you know what I mean—"

Lucario whirled on the floating Shard, suddenly animated as a snarl built in his throat. "We all will. We'll all lose what we stood for, whether or not I'm fighting against Zero. Perhaps your magical empathy link with your rightful protector can tell me how well my 'friends' are doing. How many of them have died? All of them? If Addie is dead, the rest will follow suit. There is nothing more to do, nothing to say. You can't beat Zero with love, or passion, or appreciation of nature. There is only the future he has created, and the mercy he has given. The blow I dealt Snake was nothing compared to what Zero will soon deal upon us."

"Yeah, you keep doing that. You're doing wonderfully already." Kris began to pulse with an iridescent fire as it said harshly, "So you're going to give up? Thanks for that. Just turn around and wait for Zero to kill you. How does it feel to be a traitor, twice? How does it feel to think the world hates you?"

Lucario's voice fell to a whisper. "There is nothing but Zero. Nothing."

Kris's disembodied voice gave a gentle sigh. "Fine. I'm done with your shit. Just forget I said anything; I give up. Really, this is ridiculous."

The Pokémon sat down alongside the riverbank and let his legs trail in the water. He could imagine it: Snake sitting in the same spot, staring blankly into the transparent depths as the world turned and changed around him.

There was nothing Snake could do. There was no way for even someone like him to end Zero. How many people had tried before him? How many of Lucario's old "friends" had sacrificed themselves for nothing, given in to their fear and cowardice? They wanted to do nothing but end the pain, to let their wills break without doing anything about it.

_And that's exactly what Lucario was doing._

"Zero was wrong since the beginning," said Kris after a silent, empty moment. "He thinks the world is heartless, hopeless. That's only what he thinks. He's never given anyone else enough chances, never been kind enough to care beyond his limits. He never learned from his mistakes, never grew from the experiences he had. I can ramble all day, Lucario, and I know you won't care. I know you. But maybe I think there's a chance for everyone."

The Shard interrupted itself with another sigh. "Maybe I'm too lenient, too forgiving. But everyone needs a chance, and everyone needs forgiveness. But, on top of that… Everyone needs a purpose. What's yours…?"

Lucario looked up at the Crystal questioningly.

"You heard what I said," added Kris.

Lucario had no answer to that.

As if in confirmation, Kris said, "I knew it. I knew it. You have no purpose, no goal. Is that what makes you so different from everyone else? Does that make you a 'special snowflake' like Zero, who is allowed to take his frustration out on others? Why would you ever have a goal when you can wander about in your dark, lonely cave of a room and think the rest of the world is the same way? No, no. Say nothing more. I get it now. Maybe I should've known earlier."

The world was silent once more, save for the sound of rushing water.

"Kris," Lucario said, "maybe you're right. Maybe Zero is wrong, and maybe I really don't have a goal. But it doesn't matter. As long as I'm alive—"

"Yeah, as long as you're alive, and as long as your friends suffer, thinking that you betrayed them. What kind of life would that be? Oh, right, I remember now. You thought that a life here wouldn't really be a life. I guess you took that back, didn't you?"

Lucario was speechless. He fingered the glove on his right paw, very aware of the hole where the Crystal Shard used to lay.

Kris said, "I don't know why I was brought to life at a time like this. I have a lot of theories, and I know you do too, somewhere in that thick skull of yours. I won't say them out loud. I know. But… You can correct me if you think I'm wrong. I don't think you're happy with this. You can tell yourselves that you don't need them, that you don't need to fight for what they fight for in order to have a happy ending. You want something different."

Lucario merely shrugged. He had no reply.

"Yeah, I knew it. But you don't wanna admit it. I don't blame you, because if I were you, I'd be ashamed of myself just walking down the street. Really, now. If you want this to change, if you want to give anything a chance, then… Maybe you should just do it. Forget about what the world thinks, forget about what Zero told you. I can't believe you'd listen to an asshole like him, though. You'd really take him seriously? He's a jerk. He's… God, he's a horrible, horrible person, and you're willing to just sit still and listen to whatever he says. Wow, just wow."

Lucario tightened his paw, let the aura wash over his arms as his muscles clenched. "I guess you won't understand. And I… I can't understand it myself, sometimes. So, stop trying. Really. It's not worth your time."

Kris hovered closer. "I'm here, anyway. Might as well make the most of it."

Without warning, Kris flashed brighter, until the world was engulfed in a wave of translucent light that blurred the horizon, melted the earth and lit it with the brilliance of a star-filled sky. The air grew heavy, charged with static as the snowy glow of an emerging sun blanketed the desolate wasteland of Dark Star.

XxX

Lucario was weightless, floating in a nameless, formless space that stretched past eternity, extended beyond the grasp of the corporeal. Light was all he could see; a fog lingered at his feet and swept across this desert of a dream.

"Don't worry about where we are." Kris bobbed and weaved beside him, leaving translucent trails of dancing radiance in its path. "We are still in Dark Star, where no one will find us. I made sure that your desire was heard."

"How could you have heard my wish when even I don't know what it is?"

"Don't worry about it. I wanted to show you something, though, so focus. There'll be a time to worry later." Kris zoomed out into the distance, and Lucario felt his body float after it.

He left the earth behind as all feeling departed his limbs; he couldn't sense his legs, the pads of his feet even as he landed on the vaporous ground once more. "Can I ask what all of this is? Unless it's too much of an inconvenience for you to tell me."

They were surrounded by floating orbs of light, all bobbing up and down as if burdened by their own weight. Each of these orbs seemed to flicker like suns, to radiate something akin to an otherworldly energy that set Lucario's fur on edge. His forehead pulsed as the numbness in his limbs faded.

"This," Kris began, "is your own consciousness, magnified to the forefront of your active mind. In other words, these are your dreams, your hopes and fears for the future. These are the countless nightmares I have seen you suffer through, the numberless possibilities for what you think is to come. This is your conscience, active in its revelries. That's it. Nothing more, nothing too fancy. Get comfy, because this is you. Get used to it."

Lucario waved a paw through one of the orbs, jolted back as the energy danced along his skin and weaved through his bones. He shivered and backed up a few steps. "So… Can we enter these… dreams, or memories? Or nightmares? Whatever these are…?"

"Getting to the nice and meaty questions, I see. Good old Lucario: he'll never let anyone explain." Kris zipped closer and stopped level with his head. "You can. I've tapped into your consciousness and spread it out before you. Think of it like an interactive map. Go where you want, 'cause I can't stop you here. You're the boss, boss-man. You can choose which ones to recollect, to retell. It's your call."

"So, then… Why can't I relive this one?" Lucario gestured to the shining sphere he had just touched. "It doesn't seem like it wants to be retold."

"Or maybe that's you. Because, y'know, this is you. This your mind, right here, manifested in a form that a bumbling, selfish, and incompetent mortal like you can fully, one-hundred-percent appreciate. Great, huh?" Kris weaved about the hovering light-show as it said breathlessly, "Maybe you already know what that thing is. I wouldn't know, now would I? Even though we've shared a connection, you still want to hide from it."

Lucario backed up even further, suddenly aware of how exposed he felt. The air wafting through this pearly landscape was cold, stale, as if someone had left the window closed for too long. "How many memories are there?"

"As many as you want to keep, y'know? Hey, don't ask me. No matter how close I've gotten to your… aura, or whatever, I'm not you. Go ahead, I'm not your babysitter. Feel free to do whatever."

_Anything but leave_, Lucario thought. In response, the ground grew a layer of solid frost that nearly made Lucario jump.

If Kris had eyes it would have glared at him. "Yeah, real intelligent, real mature. Just the kind of thing I'd expect from someone who knows what he's doing. You don't want to face the truth, do you…? Jeez. Sit tight, okay?"

"You're right, Kris. I don't. I don't know what I'm doing."

"Fine, fine. Wonderful. Do I have to do everything for you?"

Kris flew at the nearest orb, the one that Lucario had waved through, and the ground titillated around them. The fog lightened and gave them a glimpse of the anonymous unknown before it swallowed them whole.

When the fog cleared, when the colors of the known world came back to them, Lucario and Kris were standing outside a locked door, the hinges creaking, the barred window covered in brown stains. A cold wind blurred down the veiled hallway they stood in, partially cloaking the rows and rows of locked doors that extended into the stale, outworn dusk.

Lucario whirled around, took in the violently rearing torchlight, the sound of dripping water and echoing sounds from above them. The darkness seemed almost stifling; the air was a mass of suffocating whispers and clouds of fragmented, splintered dust. "I know this. I know where we are."

"Duh. Of course you do. This is a memory. Or, well… maybe it's a dream. I have no idea. Your dreams and realities get mixed up very quickly, especially if they're old dream or memories. Weird, right? Yeah, I know." Kris's gleam was blinding against the sharp backdrop of building darkness. "But this isn't what we're here to see."

Kris faded into the door and disappeared behind it.

Lucario stepped forward carefully, gingerly poked a paw through the wood. It had no substance; his hand encountered no opposition. He stuck one leg through, then another, and stepped hesitantly, silently beside Kris as he narrowed his eyes and peered into the murky depths of the chamber before him.

Snake knelt soundlessly on the ground, his hand tied behind a wooden pole at his back, his chin resting numbly against his chest. Lucario could hear his labored breathing; Snake's eyes were closed, and his nose was wet with blood. The white shirt that clung to his chest was colored with a clay-toned brown; raised scars were visible underneath the stained cloth. Light filtered dully from the narrowed window above to land on the bloodstained floor, his sand-streaked hair.

Lucario felt his chest tighten. "We shouldn't be here. This… this isn't even a possibility, because I killed him."

"Well, apparently you think it's real enough to merit remembering, so I can't help you there." Kris's voice was low, rough as it said, "You chose to think like this. It's all on you, so don't ask me how to handle your problems. And how do you know that you killed him? Oh, that's right. You don't."

The door behind them clicked. Lucario stifled a gasp, stepped into the nearest corner of the room and hugged the wall. "He… he won't see us, will he?"

"Eh, I dunno. It depends. And, y'know, it really doesn't matter. This is an illusion, a figment of your imagination. I can just pull us out of it; I have no intention to make you suffer, however pleasant the idea may be at times. So just wait it out."

"That is a great comfort, Kris, knowing that you have my back."

The door abruptly slammed open; Lucario flinched as a great figure entered the chamber. His robe trailed behind him as the halo floating above his head left a glittering banner in its wake. Every step he took, every footfall was like the rush of thunder, the bellow of the quaking earth.

Zero approached and bent over Snake's decrepit body, dragged a finger underneath the mercenary's chin. "You really need to shave. But it's not my fault, nor is it yours. You'll be here a long while, so get comfortable."

Lucario wanted to step forward. He wanted to pull out a throwing knife and see how it made Zero feel to be on the other end of it. His limbs were shaking, his eyes were watering as he saw Zero whispering sweet nothings in Snake's ear, as he saw Zero bring a knee up into Snake's throat—

Snake wheezed, doubled over, and Lucario barely held himself back. He was trembling madly, and he wanted to get out there and _kill Zero_, and not even someone like Kris could stop him then—

Zero threw a punch that caught Snake in the center of his face; there was a crack as Snake's head snapped backward, as the back of his skull hit the pole he was tied to… Gasping, Snake steadied himself just as Zero slammed his fist into his bloodied stomach.

Zero thrust forward once more, punched him just underneath the ribs and Snake choked, spat out saliva and something dark. Zero snapped, "You're an obstinate little bug. I knew that since the beginning, but you… You had the nerve to keep going. Look at you. They're all dead, all but you. And you… You had to keep going. I don't know what to say."

Snake muttered something, spat blood at his feet, and Zero's one eye narrowed. He kicked forward, and Snake howled as something in his chest crunched and snapped.

The door slammed open behind them; Zero turned to look.

Matt sidled in, dragging Zelda's dead body behind him.

Zero's eye widened. "Speak of the devil. You see…? This is where it gets you. This is why you should stop trying."

Zelda's prone form flopped lifelessly on the stained cobblestones. Blood spread from the back of her scalp, traced a thin line down her crooked spine.

Snake lowered his head and faced the ground between his knees, and Lucario felt something surge in his chest. There was no way he could deal with this, no way he could just stand here and let Snake take all the blows for them. He couldn't, he couldn't. His breath came in uneven gasps, searing howls that scored the inside of his throat. His arms burned with the exertion, the strain of holding himself back—

He surged forward just as Zero turned to face him, as Snake angled his weary head up to look, and as Kris flew between them and bathed the world in light.

XxX

When the light had faded, Lucario and Kris once again stood in the fog, amidst the floating spheres of boundless vitality. The air hummed with uncharged energy as Lucario caught his breath, steadied his paws. He grasped one of his throwing knives as he breathed, "Don't ever show me that again."

"So that was a fear of yours, then? I guess you do care about him." Kris bobbed midair, swayed beside him. "What a discovery. People'd pay big millions to confirm their fears in the same way you just did. But you really shouldn't have rushed forward like that. Who knows what you could corrupt in that dream…"

"You said they couldn't see me!"

"Well, I guess I was wrong… About you, I mean. Dunno. Thought I knew what I was talking about."

Lucario rubbed his forehead. "I can't hide that… I can't… I never wanted to care. It… Agh. I don't know why I bother telling you, of all people. To think that I thought you were kind, helpful… Only when you were a Shard, I assume."

"Whaddya mean, 'was'? I still am, idiot." Kris flew forward so that it whopped Lucario on the edge of his snout. "And you _still need to focus_! Do you know why you're still here? Why I haven't pulled you out yet? Because, good sir… You think you know everything about everyone, and you think there's nothing left to prove. You are so wrong that it's not even funny anymore. So you're stuck here until you learn."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then, if you really wanted, you could shut down this illusion and I could bring you back to the present. But… I have a feeling you don't know what you want. Psssh. Fickle, am I right?"

Kris floated weightlessly over to another orb. Lucario followed its lead, ducked underneath a sphere that drew closer. "Some of these seem… attached to me."

"Sometimes, those are the memories you unconsciously want to keep. Maybe those're the memories that just won't let go, unless you give 'em an extra push in a certain direction. Eh. Who am I to judge?" Kris snorted rudely. "You're the one in charge of everything. Speaking of being in charge…"

It nudged an orb closer to Lucario's nose. "This one might suit your fancy better, now that you know what your problem is. Man, you took one look at Snake's face and freaked. The truth hits hard, doesn't it? Well, that one event never really happened, so it's not really a truth, but I hope you know what I mean. You've eaten shit like that for breakfast, but I guess you couldn't handle it that time. But… if you're used to it, then why do you still fear it?"

"My… my friend was dying, and my other friends were dead," Lucario lashed back. "Is that something to be afraid of?"

"Well, yeah, it is, but… Why are you suddenly admitting to that now?"

Lucario drew his arm away from the gleaming, memory-tainted orb. "Are you trying to guilt-trip me? The past is behind us. Don't waste your time reminding me of what I did."

"I was just wondering, boss. Don't get so worked up about it. Also, am I the one who tried to kill Snake? Um… No. The question is… Are you ready to admit to your friendship with them? Are you ready to stop being a heartless bastard for once in your goddamn life?"

Lucario bit back his retort and touched the sphere.

The change was nearly instantaneous. Now he stood on the seaside cliffs by the Smash mansion, with the wind rippling in his fur and the bitter salt of the ocean catching on his tongue and stinging his eyes. The sun was ducking below the horizon line, casting a velvet glow across the tops of the feral waves.

Kris's voice perked up. "Oh, this might be a dream, too. A subconscious message, actually… Y'know what? I'll shut up."

Lucario ignored Kris and turned his eyes to the huddled figures sitting in front of him as they stared down at the merciless sea, absorbed in their gnawing, ageless silence.

He could distinctly hear Ribbon crying.

"Oh, look at that. A friend of yours needs support. Now, how do you deal with that, I wonder? I have an idea: yell at her. Works every time." Kris's voice dropped to an acerbic whisper, as sharp as a sword's point. "Don't interfere. Dreams and the human mind are complicated, which I'm sure you already knew before th—"

The Pokémon held a paw out to silence the Shard. "Shut it."

Ribbon was speaking. "I… I know you miss him, Zelda. We… we all do. I've… I've thought about it. What I did, what I could have done differently. And I know you're angry at Lucario, because, because I am, too. He… He… I don't miss him, and I'm not sure if he would like to be my friend at all. But, you can't afford to get angry—"

"And if he comes back," Zelda snarled through her tears, "if he comes back and Snake is dead and we're all about to follow, what will he say, then? Will he beg for forgiveness? Maybe he won't come back. I don't know what I would say if he did."

"We… We can't afford to get angry about it, Zelda, because we still have Zero to deal with. I don't know whether to believe it yet, and Addie's the same, I know, but… But I think we've done a pretty good job up 'til now, I guess."

"Ribbon, Snake is most likely dead, and… and Lucario… Lucario isn't one of us."

"I know. You told me yesterday. But… But don't get caught up in it. There's still another day to live for. I mean, I'm… I don't want to forget, either. But at the same time, I do."

Ribbon wiped her eyes. "I'll miss them. I'll miss all of you. But… I think we've come too far to give up. Whatever happens next…"

Zelda glanced away, fleetingly. "I understand. We'll figure something out."

There was silence between them, and it was a silence that Lucario found himself wanting to interrupt.

Abruptly, from out of nowhere, Kris rasped, "You… You asshole."

"What now…?" Lucario sneered. "Did I do something wrong, again…?

"Why didn't you tell them? You'd been in contact with Zero since the beginning, even before meeting Snake… You never told Zelda, even when you helped her with her arm, kept her going… You, filthy hypocrite…"

Lucario whirled to face the Crystal, to flash it a warning glance. "I had no choice. It was that, or die alone. Zero gave me a choice in the beginning; I never outright accepted, but he left it open. It wasn't my time to die."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should have died anyway. Hell, I didn't want to know that, and I didn't want to remember it. But here you are, still telling me that everyone else is wrong. No, y'know what? Screw this. Screw all of this, and screw all of your sad, depressing memories or doubts or whatever. Screw it."

Kris flew in front of Lucario and flared a brilliant white. The waves, the sounds of the crying seabirds and the rumbling fog dimmed, cloaked by the still, steady ambience of his dreams, his memories.

Mist gathered at Lucario's feet as he blinked, adjusted his eyes to the dim glow of his conscious mind. "Kris, wait. What are you—"

"You think you can hide behind me, to have someone nearby to justify your feelings. You never could look yourself in a mirror, now could you…? You're ashamed. You're scared of this world, as you should be, but you've given that as an excuse to be an asshole. And now that I think about it, I don't even know why I showed you those visions. You don't care about who you are on the inside, and you're scared of it, just as you don't care about the friends who would die for you."

"They would never die for me, ever… How dare you—"

There was no warning, no preamble, but a vision flashed before his eyes: Ribbon, dragging Snake to his feet even as the underground passage behind them crumpled; Kirby standing up to Heavy Lobster as fire spewed from its claws; Ganon staring Matt in the eye, blocking the passageway as Zelda and the others pushed on without him.

"You knew," Kris blurted gently. "You knew, and you've been scared."

Lucario closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was lying underneath the hanging bough of a tree, the river still gurgling pleasantly nearby. The air was cold, but Lucario felt his fur settle, his muscles relax.

He had known. He'd known since the beginning, but had doubted himself, doubted…

Doubted them.

"What, are you gonna sleep now? I'll just leave you, then. I can find them, and we don't need you. They don't need to know what kind of person you really are."

"No, they don't. But, I…"

"What…?"

Lucario took a deep breath. "I'm going to find them."

XxX


	39. Knell

**A/N: Thanks for waiting and being patient. We're nearing the end.**

XxX

_Knell_

"Okay, great," Kris snapped. "And how're you going to do that? Are you gonna rely on your _magical powers_ from Zero, like, I dunno, teleportation? Dark magic? Possession?"

"Surely you could help out with the process…?"

"Yeah, okay… I mean, if you want. But, y'know, that was pretty damn sudden… Well, I just… Maybe you should have told me that sooner…"

Lucario raised an eyebrow. "So, would you have preferred that I not say anything?"

"No! I… Just, don't take my word for it. But they won't like it. You know that. You show up after using your _magical powers_ and they will be out for blood. They… You know them. They won't want to see that. So, ah, if you want to get torn to pieces by people who have a mutual distrust for you, great. I suggest waiting this out."

"Can't we do this some other way?"

"Uh, yeah, actually. I have an idea. Just gimme a sec here." Kris went silent for a moment as the glow surrounding its surface strengthened. "I need some peace and quiet."

The light radiating from Kris took on a series of distinct colors, shapes, shadows. Pink hair formed itself atop a rounded, gently-curving face and fell to petite shoulders. Blue sparks danced as they formed the shape of wings on the figure's back.

Ribbon looked up in the mirage immediately, her brilliant eyes catching Lucario off guard. "J-Jeez, Lucario…! You, you… you really scared me. I, um, sorry. I was… distracted. Y'know."

Lucario could no longer meet her eyes. "Yes. I had a feeling."

"So, um, where are you, and how are you doing this?"

"My Crystal Shard… I, I used it to establish some sort of connection between us, and… And we're here. Are the others nearby?"

"Um, yes." In the vision, Ribbon turned her head quickly, then turned back, her expression empty, vacuous. "They're listening, even though you can't see them."

"Oh." Lucario turned away, the heat on his cheeks unbearable.

Was it really this hard to… to come to terms to what he did? What he said? How difficult was it to own up to himself?

He could imagine Zelda yelling at him, and maybe he deserved it.

"Lucario, um, your Crystal Shard. Was it the one I asked about a long while back? Y'know, when, um…"

"Yes. It is."

Ribbon blinked rapidly, brows furrowed. "Yeah. I had a feeling you were hiding something. You always were, I felt. No one has the right to be that mean if we were all going through the same thing at the time, you know…?"

Lucario bit down a scalding retort, a scathing yell. "Yes. I know."

"Do you, now…? Fine." Ribbon sighed, rubbed her nose with her sleeve. "You'd have to be somewhere safe to be using that. The Crystal, even when shattered, has many capabilities, but… Even I don't know how to use a lot of them. But, you'd have to be in tune with the Crystal Shard to be… using it the way you are."

Lucario nodded.

Ribbon flicked a strand of hair behind her. "So, what is this about? Are you going to try to kill me through this connection? It won't work, I'm sorry to say."

"No… I… I was wondering if you knew how I could catch up with you all, perhaps meet you somewhere close by, or teleport to you."

There was silence, complete and utter in its being. No one said a word.

Lucario could feel his legs shaking, his paws quivering at his sides. He didn't want to feel like this. He… he hated this. He hated this damn feeling of—

"And… how do we know you're not going to kill us?"

"I won't. I know that means nothing, now."

"It does, actually. And nothing you say would help." Ribbon fluttered in place, wings flapping seamlessly like a hummingbird's. "We know what you did. I guess you would, too, if you had any sort of decency. So, now that you're done being nice, go tell Zero about where we are, or whatever else lets you sleep at night."

"I won't bother apologizing, because I know it won't help—"

"I'm glad you recognize that."

"But, look. If… If I were to somehow personally bring the Crystal Shard to you, would… would that be acceptable?"

"Don't ask me. It's not like my opinion mattered much to you, anyway." Ribbon once again glanced behind her, the red bow atop her head dancing along to the motion. "Dunno whether they'd be alright with it. But, if you really want to come back…"

Ribbon's voice dimmed.

"Yes…?"

"Don't teleport. Just, don't. The Shard can hone in on the location of the other Shards when used properly. I don't know the depth of your connection with yours, but… If you can maintain a link like this, I assuming you can have it home in on my Crystal."

"What if I'm too far away to walk?"

"Tough. You'll have to pace yourself." Ribbon's voice held no color. "You can find out how close we are to you."

"Fine." Lucario closed his eyes. "Kris, could you locate them?"

"Yeah, sure, sure. Whatever you want, boss. I'm on it."

Slowly opening his eyes, Lucario fidgeted in the silence as Kris glistened in midair, as the projection of Ribbon stared expressionless.

What could he say to her? What… what could he do to make her feel any better? He couldn't erase the past, he couldn't remove her memories…

_Goes to show how hard it is to earn someone's trust_, Kris crowed in his head.

"Just find them," Lucario said out loud. "I don't need to hear anything else."

"Found 'em." Kris let out a pleasant _ding_. "Jeez, Luc, hold your horses. Relax, we're getting somewhere. Ribbon, you guys are pretty close by. We'll be there soon. I mean, things could get kinda heated. You might want to tell the others, get ready for this, um… reunion."

"They're still listening. They know." Ribbon focused her tired gaze on Lucario. "If you want our trust, now's a good time to start earning it."

The projection faded to star dust, melted to nothing.

Kris said after a moment, "It's a start. I don't know whether I'm proud of you for that. Anyone with any sort of dignity would have done that way before—"

"I get it, Kris."

"Do you really?"

Lucario cocked his head. "Eh. Mostly."

XxX

Lucario met the others by the bend of the river as the ground sloped down in a low incline. Zelda evaded Lucario's gaze; Ribbon stared right at him. "Okay, here we are. Go ahead and kill us, if you want."

Snake and Kirby were standing some ways away, lurking underneath the hanging branches of a low tree. They made no effort to come closer; they merely stayed silent, hidden by the shade of the skeletal boughs above.

"No. You know that's not what I'm here for," said Lucario. "We… we had a compromise, an agreement. I won't dishonor it here."

Ribbon shook her head. "Great. Where's the Shard?"

Kris zoomed out from behind Lucario's back. "Hi, Ribbon. It's been a while, huh? Well, y'know me. I didn't want to keep you waiting."

"Hi, Kris. Yeah. Glad to see you."

Lucario started, jumped slightly. "You know each other?"

Ribbon sighed before replying, "Don't think you're the only one who can make these connections. Because, well, you're not. Not by a long shot." She turned back to Kris, gestured to the Crystal lying prone underneath another nearby tree. "You know what to do, right?"

"Yes. There's not much else to do."

"Besides annoy Lucario?" Ribbon let a rare smile cross her face.

If Kris had a mouth it would have been laughing. "Well, that's important, I'd admit. Yeah, maybe I should spend some more time doing that, huh? Nah, actually. I know."

Lucario could stand it no longer. "Kris… Are you the last Crystal Shard?"

Kris froze in midair. "Yeah, Luc. I am. Glad you noticed."

"I assume that means that you will fuse with the rest of the Crystal to complete it. You will no longer have your own personal conscience, and it's unknown whether I will be able to talk with you."

"That's about right. But hey, I dunno whether you'll remember me later, so don't worry about keeping in touch. You have… bigger, better things to do."

"But… I never knew."

"You never knew a lot of things, but no matter how many times people tried to let you know, well… Let's just say that there's no erasing the past. There's no going back, changing history. It's time you start knowing, or who knows what else might go wrong."

Kris zoomed forward, but Lucario spoke up. "Kris… I know you won't believe me, and I do not know whether I can believe myself. I don't trust the words out of my own mouth. But… for what it's worth…"

He found that he could no longer speak; his mouth wouldn't work.

"Yeah, Luc?"

He chose his words carefully. "I'll miss you, Kris."

There was a quiet pause.

"I'll miss you too."

Kris flew forward, and the moment its surface touched Ribbon's Crystal, Kris began to glow. Its edges sparkled with dancing motes of light, flashes of twisting fire and otherworldly spirits of radiance. The light shared between Kris and the Crystal melded into one halo that scintillated for a single moment before sinking in on itself, growing smaller and dimmer.

When the glow settled, Kris was nowhere to be seen, but the Crystal hummed and buzzed with a radiant power, a newfound energy.

Lucario sat down, fighting against the tightness that swept away the words on his tongue. His heart pulsed rapidly as he crossed his legs, stared out into the distant horizon line.

Kris's voice had gone silent in his head.

"Of all the people to miss," Ribbon spat suddenly, "you miss a Crystal Shard who you were in verbal contact with for around a day. What kind of connection was that…?"

"You don't need to know," Lucario said simply. "I delivered it, and your Crystal is complete. That's all that should concern you."

"Okay, but… Where do you go now?"

Lucario then turned around to look at Ribbon. Her face was still tight, stony; her eyes gleamed brightly. She wrung her hands, straightened her torn sleeves. He replied, tartly, "I don't know. I could stay—"

"But we'd have something to say about it." Ribbon flew over to her newly completed Crystal, ran her hand over its illuminated surface. "I mean… We can't stop you; you're your own person."

"Fine," Lucario said. "That's fine. But I helped you more than you think I did. Zelda," he said, turning to the princess, "that arm you have. Who made that for you? Who helped you recover, gave you a reason to keep going, to forget Link…? We owe each other something, but you to me most of all."

Her reply was immediate. "And you turned around and left us. Is there anything you wanted to say about that?"

He couldn't. He couldn't tell them what he had done, what he had planned. Never.

They already knew how weak he was, anyway.

He turned back to the fairy. "Ribbon… I, I wanted to get your forgiveness… I wanted a chance to prove your doubts wrong… I wanted to prove Zero wrong."

"Really…" Ribbon suddenly whirled to face him. "I doubt it. I doubt it very much. I doubt it so much that I don't think I could ever trust you again. All of a sudden, you want to prove Zero wrong after kissing up to him. Really. I'm not stupid. We're not stupid."

The Pokémon approached the fairy, but she backed up. "No, Luc. You can't have my forgiveness; not now, and probably not ever. I… If you were there to see Addie die, maybe you'd understand. How can any of us trust you ever again?"

Lucario was about to reply when a low growl came from behind him.

Ribbon immediately reached for the Crystal. Zelda approached Lucario, fire already burning in her palms. Out of the corner of his eye, Lucario saw Kirby summon his sword, watched Snake draw his knife with his left hand.

Out of the lifeless bushes, undead foliage burst a streaking shadow that landed atop Lucario's back. He fell with a growl, and the midnight air was filled with the sounds of their struggle.

There was a crack, and a howl.

Lucario lay on his stomach, the black creature having pinned him down. The Pokémon barked, snapped and twisted as aura leapt from his body, but the creature held on, twitching and convulsing as it set its weight atop its captive.

Zelda tightened her fist. Ribbon gave a yell and flew backward, eyes glued to the scene before her as the unidentified being drew a sharp claw, as blank and hollow as night, and stabbed it down into Lucario's back.

He gasped, arms reaching out for the people watching, too stunned to move, to react. His mouth opened, his lungs flared as he coughed and wheezed.

Lucario reached out for Ribbon, feebly, gently, and the shadowy creature drove its spike in deeper. The Pokémon flinched, tightened his paws, tried to turn himself over, to throw his assailant to the side—

The monster slashed through Lucario's midsection, cutting his back open with a rough tearing sound.

Lucario fell still, blood trickling noiselessly from his mouth hanging slightly agape.

A fireball flew from Zelda's gauntlet, catching the creature in the chest. It screamed, an eerie, humanoid screech rising from its amorphous throat. It leapt off Lucario's body, blood dripping from its claw, and sped toward Zelda in a blur of darkness and lingering flames.

She staggered back, threw another arc of flame in front of her. The creature settled on a form for one moment, one fraction of a second as it dodged to the side, brought its weeping blade forward.

Faster than thought, Zelda drew her sword, slashed forward.

The being roared, leapt to the side and disappeared in a burst of shadowy vapor.

Zelda dashed forward without a thought, bent over Lucario and checked for a pulse, felt his chest. "Luc, c'mon. Stay with me."

He coughed, slowly rolled himself over with a paw over his torn stomach. "I had a feeling… he'd do that. Zero wouldn't let me go… I didn't stop to… to think about it."

"Do you know who that was?"

"I wouldn't know. Maybe… Maybe I don't care." Lucario winced, bit down on his tongue. "I don't know what to care about."

"That's passed, now." Zelda stared at him, her heart in her throat. "You… You said you wanted to return the Shard to us. That wasn't the only reason, was it…?"

Lucario sighed, wheezing. "I… I wanted to prove Zero wrong, even from the start… Always. I… I never acknowledged it, but—"

He sputtered, hacked up blood.

"Luc…"

He grasped for Zelda's arm. "I said… you could never trust them. I remember. I know you do. I thought… thought I was telling the truth. The only truth there was… I thought I was right about people."

Lucario's paw slid down Zelda's metallic hand as his chest shook, as his eyelids flickered. He breathed in deep, coughed and wiped his eyes.

"I guess… I was wrong about that, too."

Zelda set her hand gently atop his paw. She crouched in silence, waiting for him to speak.

There was no response.

XxX

The wind howled painfully, rising up and tearing the limbs off the dead trees, ripping their skeletal boughs and scattering their leaves.

Zelda stood up, steadied herself and stumbled as a howling scream, a banshee's roar tore through the lifeless forest. She gripped her sword tightly, fought the wind as she walked carefully around Lucario.

She refused to believe it. She refused to. He couldn't be; there were so many things she wanted to tell him, so many conversations she wanted to have.

She couldn't. She…

Not even he deserved it.

Zelda barely noticed when the wind died down, when the stirred leaves settled once more. She was already dashing between the trees, ducking underneath torn branches as the howling, moaning forest bended in on her.

A figure blurred by her, shaking the undergrowth, ripping the knee-high ferns as it zoomed by. She dashed behind it, leapt over a log and barreled forward. Yelling, shouting came from behind her; she sped off, heart hammering in her chest as her quarry ran on—

Zelda barreled past a line of trees, stomped down an outstretched root. She tore through a wall of brambles and skittered to a stop.

The vacuous demon lurked before her, its arms hanging at its sides as a violent black haze gathered about its body. Two red eyes shined from a sunken, bulbous face that shifted and refused to take on a form.

Zelda tightened her hand around her sword. "Someone needs to answer for what has been."

Turning wildly, the dark figure began to contort. Black liquid dripped around its feet as its arms changed shape, as its palms grew shadowy fingers, as pointed hair spiraled from its pearly scalp.

When the nameless entity looked up, Zelda took a step back, flames sprouting along her sword as her eyes widened.

"Addie…?"

XxX


	40. Bastion

**A/N: There are things that all of us regret. This might be one of them; you'll see why.**

XxX

_Bastion_

Addie's blackened form approached stealthily, an inky mist rising like rotten bile from her shoulders, her eyes like piercing red darts. Her hands were painted with blood, darkened liquid that mingled with the pure shadow of her skin, her clothes, her colorless beret.

Zelda doused the flames coating her gauntlet and sheathed her sword. She couldn't bring herself to. Not yet. Not ever.

This couldn't have been Addie. It wasn't possible.

She was dead.

But here she was, standing threateningly, looming over the bleak, drained grasses, glaring at Zelda as if wishing a cavalcade of curses upon the princess. Addie's lips moved slightly, revealing a black hole for a mouth, a silent vortex that produced no sound yet made Zelda's hair curl, her spine tingle.

There needed to be a reason for this, why Addie was here in this shape, in this form. If Snake had seen her die, that was that.

And yet…

Zelda shifted on her feet; Addie moved no closer. The air around her tainted spirit hummed with a desolate tone, striking soulful chords in the mournfully twisted sky. The trees let out a collective sigh as Addie's eyes widened, black irises like circles of obsidian.

A blinding flash filled the world, blotted out the oily iridescence of the skeleton trees, the volcanic earth that crunched underneath Zelda's feet. She blinked, gasped, covered her eyes as heat gathered in front of her. The ground shook, and the winds howled once more, cried out to the sullen sky.

When Zelda opened her eyes, the world had suddenly, abruptly come back into view. It had sparked to life in a wave of black nightmares, a torrent of endless midnight as a sliver of white slunk its way into the breach between earth and sky.

Zelda found her footing, steadied herself as she held back the swimming feeling in her stomach. She leaned against a nearby rock, tall and imposing as it reached up to the ceiling of the world. In the corner of her eyes she could see Snake, Kirby, Ribbon getting their bearings, glancing about at the environment that had so suddenly, fluidly changed with them still in it.

The horizon line shined brightly as Zelda turned to face it; the zenith of the empty plain took on the gleam, the hibernal energy of a celestial star.

They were close to the edge, the known border of Dark Star…

Which meant that—

"Oh, thank you, Adeleine. Who knew that a departed spirit brought back to life through vengeance was so useful…? I didn't need you to do that, and yet you went out of your way, your comfort zone to do so. Would you, like me, take a sincere thank-you for granted, even if I had known how to give one? I do not know, unfortunately. And I don't think you have the independent will required to do so."

Zelda fought against the tidal wave building in her chest, struggled to contain her fiercely-beating heart that brought heat to her face.

Zero's fortress.

Only after all of this, after all they'd been through…

"I hope the welcoming reception was worth it. I wouldn't know; I'm not you, and I wasn't a part of it. For what it's worth…" Zero drew a breath. "You put up a fight. Maybe I could admire that, in another life. Not now."

Zelda whirled around, took a step back.

His palace seemed to reach beyond the clouds, to enter the endless void of cavernous stars and the endless night above. Its peaks and mounted walls were an amalgamation of stone, steel, wood, stained glass that stretched up, left, right in absurd rock formations and spires like the twisted points of a trident: countless, jagged as they sought to sever the heavenly sky from the anchored earth. The light of the horizon line shined across the battlements, the towering gates that enclosed the obsidian behemoth, the fortified cathedral of night and its hallowed demons.

Surrounding the structure were scores of Dark Matter soldiers, all staring with lidless eyes at Zelda, all armed with weapons at the ready. They stomped in their restless armor, the warmongers within waiting to be released.

Zelda took another step back, away from the army, well aware of Addie's heavy presence still lurking behind her. If—

If that _was_ Addie. If any of this was believable.

Zero's voice rang out in the blackness once more, its owner hidden from sight. "Here you are: your final stop, your endgame. You wanted this. You wanted to find me. Fine. You have your chance, now. Storm the walls, overtake my army. See how far you get before you give up, before I take your life and the lives of those you love right in front of you. Or," he mused, "I can kill you all right now. I can have someone rip out your eyes, or take your heads and display your bodies for the world to see. That can be arranged. But Kirby… Now, how would we kill you? With kindness…?"

Zelda immediately unsheathed her sword, drawing out the sound of harmonious metal. Snake drew his knife, and Kirby reached his thoughts out for his sword. Ribbon hovered between them and the army, unsure of where to look, where to turn… If she turned around she would have to face _her_ again, and never in her life did she want to see her like this—

The army began to creep closer, but Zero interjected, "No, I think all of that can wait for later. There will be a time for that. Well, Addie, you can give it a try."

The ground lurched underneath them as Addie's shade lunged, her feet pounding as her misted form began to blur. She pounced through the air, her face elongating, her hands and feet widening, and when she touched earth she had taken the form of a bear. She dashed at Zelda, paws churning up flakes of black dust, fanged mouth wide as she roared, spat and slobbered.

Zelda raised her sword to block, but suddenly the impact of the tackle hit her and she felt herself stagger back as Addie's full weight fell upon her, pushing her onto her backside. Fire crawled its way up Zelda's gauntlet as the bundle of fur and flying claws lashed out at her. Zelda thrust her hand above her, lashing out with her blade now engulfed in flame.

Bear-Addie roared and fell back; Zelda rose to her feet with a jump and ran forward, slashing down. Sparks flew, smoke rose as a black gash appeared along Addie's furred chest.

Addie growled, snapped out with rough paws. Zelda rolled, saw Ribbon fly by in a sapphire blur as the Crystal flew from her hands, collided squarely with Addie's ursine jaw. She roared again, batted away her crystalline aggressor and lumbered for Ribbon. The fairy flew above, thrust out her arm as the Crystal zoomed back to her grasp. They danced away as Addie swatted at empty air… Now Zelda was coming in from the side, rushing, spearing forward; Addie leapt aside at the last moment. The two of them swayed in tandem as they exchanged blows, as Zelda swung her sword to the rhythm of her heartbeat—

But Zelda wasn't facing a bear anymore; she was facing a… a giant scorpion, blocking its massive tail as it rained deathly poison around her, and it was all Zelda could do to keep her guard up. Addie's arachnid form was a whirlwind, snarling, shrieking uncontrollably, screeching so loud Zelda nearly reached up to cover her ears—

Ribbon came in for a second pass, her silhouette smudging against the pale, midnight backdrop… For one second Addie turned her beady red eyes up to the heavens, and Zelda lunged in closer, lopped off one of Addie's claws at the base. There was a sound like clanking metal as the black carapace clinked against the earth. Addie howled as her oily blood splattered, as she clacked her remaining pincer, frothed at her mandibles. Addie's eyes flickered waveringly, unable to focus on one target. She skittered back on her pointed scorpion feet, waved her tail about her flattened head.

Caught in her indecision, Addie's bulbous, armored body faded into oblivion, melted into the stale, shadowy winds of the past.

The world had gone deathly silent.

"Well, that was something," Zero's voice called out. His words stirred the earth and his legions of soldiers crowded closer in, a limitless sea of shining weapons and black armor, red eyes that glared from underneath countless helms. "That wasn't the last you'll see of her. No, no. I would not find it interesting to end her rampage so soon. She will get her chance, someday soon, possibly today. But…"

A ripple of disturbance spread through his army as he paused.

After a breathless moment, Zero spoke, "I think my soldiers should have a turn at this. I was just curious, wondering at how you would react to certain things. It's been long enough, and I think I've had my fill. I don't remember telling you, but you sicken me. All of you. Goodbye, then."

Out of their limitless ranks came a single swordsman, and the temporal world descended into chaos.

XxX

When the swordsman drew close, soldier after soldier poured out from behind him and rushed the group… All noise, all clattering steel, all raging voices and screaming iron were dimmed in the background, dulled to a light whisper as Zelda stared Link in the eyes. He glared back at her, face expressionless, Master Sword already unsheathed. He took his time, stepped forward casually as Zelda approached in equal footing.

The world outside of theirs was a sea of violence, of voiceless howls and choirs of the nameless dead that writhed and struggled to their last. Zelda tightened her knuckles around her sword. There was nothing else to see, no one else to fight. It was as if a barrier surrounded her and what lay beyond the borders, closing the din of battle off from the emotions still curled around her like some great serpentine demon of the depths.

"You think I will hesitate." Zelda shook her bangs away, scratched at her torn and twisted left cheek. "You think I will stop to think about the consequences, about what might have been. There is nothing left for me there, nothing for me or you."

If Link heard her words, he gave no indication of the sort. He flicked his wrist, extending his sword in a rushing stab and Zelda dodged to the side, brought her own blade up in a whirl of motion, a blur of metal. They parried, stabbed, thrust at one another, feet lifted as they clashed and drew away, caught in a storm of endless blows and fiery fervor. Shouts, wails, moans carried into their ears but were barred from entering, only to be replaced by the thrumming of Zelda's own heartbeat.

With a flick of his wrist, Link opened Zelda's guard, pushed away her sword as he drew ever closer to her exposed chest. She whirled and somehow landed a blow, shoving Link's slashing attack to the side and opening a gash down his colorless tunic.

He stumbled back as his knees trembled, and Zelda cut at his hand. The Master Sword fell away from open fingers and clattered to the ground, its owner disarmed, defenseless.

For one lifeless fraction of a moment, Link turned his wide eyes to Zelda, silently wishing, begging as a flash of color flickered to life in his white irises—

She thrust forward, piercing through his chest.

The battle raged on around them as Zelda withdrew her sword. Link's body crumpled to meet the earth at her feet. She stepped over his breathless form and engaged a halberdier who drew too close.

Time from that point on seemed to slow, to freeze and dissipate until it lost all meaning. Soldiers ran at the group from all directions, screaming and jeering from underneath their helmets as they raised their weapons in a lustful war-frenzy. Zelda could see Ribbon fly by as she and her Crystal felled a horde of archers who had just drawn their bowstrings back… Nearby, Snake was sparring with an axe-wielder, dodging and returning stabs and thrusts with his left hand. Kirby was somewhere close by, swinging his sword with reckless abandon, stunning those who opposed him as the light of the horizon line refracted off his blade's flawless edge.

Zelda cut through one and immediately whirled around to her left. She slashed through a warrior and stabbed through another. They dissolved to black ashes that withered away with the wandering wind, yet more had taken their places. She blocked a stray sword swing, then a stab, then dodged a wayward thrust. She dealt blows in return, kicked the corpse aside as it began to melt. More kept coming forward to challenge them, and she swung and stabbed and dodged and sometimes rolled; it was an endless cycle of fighting, of turmoil that seemed to outlast the glow of the lavender-streaked sky around them.

One of the army's nameless force dashed forward, thrust with his spear. Zelda was too slow to react; his spear breached her blade and nicked the corner of her chest. She leapt back as fire flew from her left hand, its intensity matching the burning sensation in her skin as the crimson flames engulfed the nameless warrior in an incandescent bonfire. His spear fell to the ground as another stepped over its bare shaft. Zelda swung and swung, and the stinging in her chest began to fade as her arms tightened… Every now and then she would see a flash of something she recognized; clothing, a certain weapon… And then the known relics would fade into a blur, obscured by armor or the inexorable features of the Dark Matter army that slowly began to press in closer—

Zelda let fire flow once more from her palm, and the wall of archers in front of her skittered back; those that were too slow were immediately overtaken. Their surviving comrades scattered, only to be picked off by the fairy that patrolled the skies. Zelda swung and swung, barely noticing that the exposed steel of her sword was aflame, just as she stabbed through the torso of another sword-wielder. He fell without a sound as one of his fellows leapt into the fray in his place.

In her battle-frenzy she could see a flash of red hair, of emerald green as Bowser suddenly rushed into her view. His claws were extended; heated fumes rose from the depths of his throat—

Zelda raised her sword, cut through him and stepped away from him as he collapsed in a hushed silence. Still more soldiers came forward, their attacks endless and timeless as they continued unabated.

After a time, the soldiers suddenly stopped and backed away, forming a ring around the group. They stirred where they stood, restless, itching to continue the fight.

Zelda and the others clustered together, breathing heavily, staggering. Ribbon held onto the Crystal like a lifeline; Snake's legs wobbled at the knees as he bared his knife.

From the sea of his army, Zero waded through, his robe trailing behind him like a fallen star, singing its final song, twirling its last dance. A split emerged in his army's ranks as they parted to let Zero pass. "Do you know how many you've killed? Do you know how long you've fought to get here, how many lives you left behind to have this chance? You won't waste it, I know. But… You've been too busy, chasing your mere sliver of a dream to notice."

"There… there was nothing else we could have done," Zelda spat, chest heaving. "You did this to them. You."

"So… they had reason to do what they did. You agree, I know. Then, you must say the same of her."

It happened all at once. Zero stepped back as the farthest reaches of his forces gave a fearful roar that shook the earth. The fallen angel disappeared into the black sky as the ring around Zelda and the others began to widen away from them. A shadow streaked over the heads of those soldiers in front, landed on the ground in front of them. Ribbon backpedaled as the shade took the form of a towering wolf, and before Zelda could react, Addie's departed spirit leapt at Ribbon, barking madly as she sprinted forward on gangling legs of corporeal darkness—

Addie slashed her canine paws at Ribbon, knocking her out of the sky. The Crystal bounced away from her, settled out of reach as Addie stalked closer to the defenseless fairy, hackles raised, red eyes like focused spotlights—

Ribbon stumbled out of the way just as Addie's iron jaws clamped down on empty air. She rose in flight, dodged away as Addie's renewed attack came close to her chest, nearly pulling her back down—

"I should remind you of something," Zero's voice called out in the blackness as his soldiers watched, taunting in their whispering, grating howls and cheers. "Adeleine, the friend you thought you had been loyal to, was always lost. She needed a helping hand, someone to tell her that it was all right to fall. She didn't know what to do, what to say, who to turn to. No matter how many people tried, she wouldn't listen, because… She was empty on the inside. She didn't know what to do, at all. I gave her a chance. She wanted revenge, someone to listen to her, to what she actually felt. She thought she could never be anything, but now… She can be anything, do anything… Anything and everything _but listen to you_."

"Shut up, shut up…!" Zelda suddenly burst out. "You could never speak of her. You have no right to—"

"Oh, and you have more of a right than I? You, who understands naught of the suffering of the world, who imagines pain but doesn't feel it?" Zero snarled, anger bubbling in his words. "Your words mean nothing. You can't do anything to stop her. She… she is no longer defined by her relationship to you; she is not something you can control. She is her own person, now. And… if this is how she feels about herself, about you and what you so stupidly tried to do to her, then… What are we to do about it? What are you to do about it, you useless puppet?"

Now Addie had rushed forward as she shifted between forms; Zelda saw her become an eagle, a twisting fox, a charging bison before settling on the guise of a black dragon.

Horns spiraled crookedly from the back of her pointed head; claws tore deep tracks in the earth as she roared, spewed black fire as Ribbon tumbled about. The fairy lunged for the Crystal lying close by; she was only a few feet away but the dragon was rearing behind her—

Addie's claws ripped through Ribbon's back, tearing her wings, her shirt with a sound like shredding paper as blood flew like a tail behind her. Ribbon fell forward, curled up in a ball as Addie hunched above her, glaring, howling, screeching until the very heavens themselves seemed to be in danger of falling—

Before anyone could react, Addie stabbed a claw through Ribbon's back and lifted her high into the air.

_Ribbon, stay with us, no, no, not you, too_—

With an almost casual flick of her scaly claw, Addie flung Ribbon's still body to the side. Blood followed the motion in a fountain of lurid crimson.

Ribbon collapsed in a heap, unmoving, wings crumpled uselessly behind her.

Zelda gripped her sword tighter, faced Addie as the dragon bared its hateful fangs at her, stared her down with soulless red eyes. She rolled as Addie's shadow breathed fire. She felt the heat of its passage, the rush of the dragon's wings as Addie took to the air and soared into the black sky—

Snake tackled her out of the way as Addie came roaring down from the utmost heights, screaming madly and bearing her jaws wide open. Please, Addie, please, I know you're in there, don't make us do this and _oh gods, no_—

Zelda darted to the side as Addie's reptilian rage battered her ears, tore a gaping hole in her heart as the trees wailed alongside her. Zelda took cover behind a wall of rocks, burnt rubble as the ring of Dark Matter soldiers surrounding their makeshift arena scattered as Addie's rampage continued unabated. Zelda heard roars, screams in ancient languages that fell on the deaf ears of a beast from purgatory's depths.

She couldn't. Of all the things to happen—

But she couldn't hide. She couldn't give in to what she was telling herself, she had more important things in mind, larger tasks to accomplish… And Addie was still there, raging and lashing out at whatever struck her fancy, and Snake and Kirby were still caught up in the struggle—

Maybe Addie would focus on them, and that would give Zelda some time to think of a way out—

No, she had to help them, she had to, no matter what. She had to.

Behind her barricade, the battlefield had gone strangely, deathly silent. The yells, the chorus of suffering had died down; the soldiers had scattered, fled the scene for the time being, but—

Zelda's heart sank.

She looked out and over the rocks, head throbbing wildly, hands shaking uncontrollably.

Addie, now back in human form, stood above Snake as she leered down at his broken form. She walked closer, eyes narrowed evilly.

Close by, Kirby was lying down, still and quiet, his sword lying limply in his hand.

She couldn't move. Her heart was pumping madly; her legs were rooted to the earth as she trembled, as the world came crashing down around her, as a wave of tiredness nearly caused her to topple over… Zelda steadied herself against her barricade as her stomach twisted, churned cruelly. She couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to. She… She couldn't. There was no way she could.

If this was where it all ended—

Zelda raised her arm and was about to cast fire when Snake said something under his breath that made Addie freeze mid-strike. She backed up, red eyes blinking madly, and Snake got to his feet.

In one swift movement, Addie had transformed into a serpent, bared her fangs like daggers and swatted Snake to the side with her whip-like tail. Bones broke, skin tore, muscles snapped in two as Snake slammed against a boulder. He fell onto his side, wheezing as blood fell from his lips, as his eyes flickered—

Serpent-Addie slithered closer, frothing at the mouth, when Snake held up his left hand.

She froze again, mouth partially unhinged, eyes moving over the landscape frantically. Addie turned her serpentine head down to look at the man lying prone in front of her, gasping pitifully, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as blood traced a mesmerizing path down his chin. He held up his hand in complete silence, saying nothing, moving only as he shook from the strain in his arm as sweat rolled along his forehead.

Addie dragged a forked tongue across her teeth. She burst forward, propelled by a sudden frenzy of rage.

Snake opened his mouth. "Addie—"

She stopped again, swayed in place. She hissed, hissed low like the rumble of a glaring furnace, but did not strike.

Somehow, she didn't.

Rising to his feet once more, Snake took a wary step forward, one step closer to those gleaming fangs, that hesitantly flickering tongue, those glistening scales intertwined with one another. Addie hissed again, arched her sinuous back but did not move. One heavy foot at a time, Snake stumbled closer, coughing, rasping, struggling to move.

Addie's reptilian eyes widened in their strained sockets as she snarled, uttered a low, dry snarl that rattled her scales and tore at their hushed silence. Snake moved forward one more step and Addie screeched, lunged before anyone could react.

Her teeth punched through Snake's chest: bones snapped, blood gushed as he crumpled, with only Addie's jaws to support him as she drove her fangs in further with a resounding crack.

Trembling slightly, Snake's left hand reached out and settled on Addie's cheek. Her scales there flinched at the touch, struggled against the odd feeling that found its way through her body and spread through her bones.

Snake, teetering on the edge, whispered, "Forgive me."

The crunching stopped, the spurts of blood calmed. Addie froze, pulled out her fangs as Snake collapsed to the ground, no longer breathing, no longer moving.

XxX

No, no.

No.

Zelda, numb, heart on the verge of breaking, stumbled out from behind the rocks. Addie immediately turned her gaze on the princess as she screamed and screamed, shaking with emotion, as if the whole world were screaming alongside her.

But Zelda heard none of it.

Like a magnet, the Crystal rose off the ground and hovered at Zelda's side, gleaming so brilliantly, so selflessly, so devotedly that it seemed to light up the entire sky.

Addie slithered back several paces, hesitant, wary.

Snake.

No.

_No…!_

Zelda's heart pounded, and she thrust her hand forward.

The Crystal answered with a sound like a sonic boom as it flew toward Addie. The world seemed frozen in time, and in that one frozen second…

The Crystal exploded.

A shockwave rippled through the lifeless earth as light bathed the world in silver radiance. Boulders shattered as entire cliffsides fractured and broke. What remained of Zero's heartless army was blown to dust as the Crystal fragmented in a shower of violent sparks. There was no sound, no smell, but the wave rippled through Addie's shadow, tore her remnant to pieces until there was nothing left. The whole world was full of blank noise, falling pillars, broken dreams, lifeless bodies.

Zelda was thrown backwards, propelled by an unseen force, her forehead burning as her eyesight faded. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

XxX


	41. Zero

**A/N: Thanks for the journey, guys. It's been great.**

XxX

_Zero_

"Wow. Unbelievable. You… You are insignificant. Look at how hard you've tried, all this time. You lost your confidence, your love, your heart. If you had given up earlier, perhaps you could have kept some of those intact. And yet, you had to throw those away. You could never learn. You never understood, and you never will."

Zelda floated about in the blackness of her own lonely, shameful mind, isolated in a sea of wretchedness and voiceless agony. Her heart was empty, and her eyes grew foggy with the selfless cold that enveloped her.

Where was she to go?

What was the point, anymore?

"Perhaps," Zero mused thoughtfully, "if you had been given a few more chances, maybe a little incentive, you would have seen the error of your ways and found a place to live in this world. Instead, you were left wandering about on your weak legs, hoping that the successes and achievements of others would carry you on. Secretly, I have been wishing to kill you. I have always wondered if you would take offense. Humans take offense at so many things, and yet they call for change."

"You don't understand," Zelda's voice called out thickly, although she couldn't feel her mouth moving. "You never could, no matter what. You're not human."

"Yes, I know. You will say that I'm worse than human, that I'm an unfathomable monster, a horrible creature who cannot understand anything beyond the suffering and anger I inflict. Yet, there's nothing worse than a human who could never understand her mistakes."

A vision flashed to the forefront of Zelda's consciousness: Link stared at her as the thick, desolate forest was enveloped in flames around him, as his eyes shined with the light of a demonic bonfire. His pale, cracked lips opened in a horrifying ghost of a skeleton's smile, and she heard him say, "You were always wrong."

The world flickered around her, and when it settled Zelda was standing in the darkness as blood fell steadily from her stump of an arm, as she walked backward, away from the person she once knew and loved, the Hylian hero who had forgotten who he was and who he had known for all his life—

Now, Link creeped ever closer, and he spoke in Zero's voice. "Your mind is a breeding ground for evil, for shame and disgrace. You can look yourself in the mirror and be convinced of your greatness, but look at what your kind has done. Look at what humanity has achieved."

The mirage of Dark Star faded, and Zelda was pulled bodily into a different realm. She was surrounded by other visions, scenes of a different reality, of countless lives and universes. People cried out as they were swallowed by the jaws of a roaring, sneering demon… Others in an alternate world screamed and wailed for salvation as their houses crumbled, as the iron birds that floated weightlessly above them drove their cargo into the ground. Some knelt on the ruined cobblestones, prayed to the heartless, careless gods that paid no mind to their anguish, that were no longer interested in what offerings the humans could afford to give. Then, beggars, vagrants, and misers lay in an empty graveyard, the headstones cracked and indecipherable as the petals of abandoned, soulless roses wasted away under the oppressive weight of isolation.

Children sat crumpled in the streets, their eyes cast down, their hands and knees scraped bloody as the busy city life passed them by and left their strangled bodies to wither in the glaring summer heat. Death ran rampant in the suburbs of an abandoned town cloaked in mist as the piles of bodies crumpled to dust and melted into the earth.

Flames crackled as Zelda was pulled back to the forest, and Zero once more presented himself. In his hand he held a fragment of the Crystal. As he ran his fingers lovingly over its sublime edge, he said softly, "You cannot admit your failures as humans. You can try to improve, yet the truth evades you. You can wish for love, friendship, trust, passion, forgiveness… If that is a goal you share with others, then… Why is your kind still so ignorant? Why must the rest of your world still suffer, if change is all you want?"

The landscape blurred once more, and now Zelda stood on the edge of a cliff, stumbling against the relentless grip of the ocean wind that tugged at her robe, yanked her hair.

Zero stood close by, his wings shedding tears of blood as they positioned themselves in a sprawling fan behind him. "Look at this. The world spreads itself out in front of you, only for you to destroy all of it. What has your faith ever achieved? If this world is worth living for, then why must you force everyone to suffer for it? What of this life you have created is as beautiful as you make it out to be?"

He approached, slowly, methodically, as if he had all the time in the world, as if he could afford to take it slowly. "You took my mortal body away, and my soul is all that remains. The Crystal was more potent than I had realized, and perhaps that is my mistake, and mine alone. I never believed you could defeat what you couldn't understand, but here I am, without a physical form, manifested within you. I am within your mind now, Zelda, and should you ever wish for your end, I will take that as permission to corrupt your body, desecrate your soul until there would be nothing left of you. And to think… None of this would have occurred if you had listened to me first."

"I wouldn't have made it this far without them," replied Zelda, shaking in the abyss of her own conscious mind. "They gave me a reason to keep going."

"And look where they are now, Zelda. Give in; admit it. They're all dead, and you've lost. There is nothing else to fight for, nothing to see in the future." Zero's footsteps echoed as the waters behind Zelda battered the earth and leapt at the colorless sky. "This is your end."

Zelda looked down at her gauntlet, thinking about what Lucario had once told her… Long ago, in another time, she had sat next to him as he whispered incantations, as his paws hovered over her worn, wrinkled stump of an arm. Pain lanced through her right hand as sparks danced in front of her, as Zero was obscured by the titillating earth that settled into a palette of warm violets and lavender hues. Torchlight weaved around her as she faced Lucario, in a past nearly forgotten.

"There was nothing you could have done otherwise," Lucario said as Zelda sat on a chair nearby, chest heaving as sweat gathered along her brow, as her other arm grew heavy. "What you have failed to do is in the past. Focus. There is nothing left to say. Link… You need to forget about him. He is beyond your reach. Focus on the present, Zelda. For your sake. Focus. Please. Link is gone—"

"He can't be," wheezed Zelda, blinking burning tears away from her eyelids. "He can't be gone. I… I know him; he's stronger than this. He couldn't have lost himself entirely."

"You can't spend forever thinking about it, regardless. He is not your priority." Lucario reached for a wet towel and wiped Zelda's burning forehead with it, still keeping one paw hovering over her ghost of a limb. "Your only priority now is your own welfare. Your life is yours to control, and your feelings are yours. No one can take that away from you. Please, stay with me. Stay in the moment. Focus."

"Luc," Zelda choked, "what are we going to do? What are you going to do, now…?"

"Don't worry about it. But… What is there to do, now, other than rest and recover?" The Pokémon shook his head as he grumbled, "I cannot say where we will be in a few days, weeks, years. I don't know. I can't say that I understand this, and I don't. Just… survive, Zelda. If there is one thing you can assure yourself of, it is your life. Forget them, for now."

"I can't," Zelda cried, yelping as a hot spike drove its way through her crippled right arm. "I can't forget them, not when we've all been left to die here! I need to help them, we can't just leave them…"

"There is 'nothing' that you 'have' to do, in this life or any. There are no laws telling you what to do with your existence. It's your choice. Remember that no matter what anyone else does to you or tells you, you can control your fate. You are the master of your own will and emotions, and you are capable of everything."

"Everything but saving Link," Zelda rasped bitterly, biting down on her tongue and starting as blood gathered in her mouth. "Everything but keeping those I love alive."

Lucario wrung his wrists, closed his eyes as he said, "Zelda. I have begun to lose all purpose. Perhaps you were not expecting such an outright declaration of failure, but… Nothing I do matters, in my eyes. We will all perish, friendless and alone, without the comfort of the sun or the wind to guide us."

His eyes flashed open. "And yet, talking with you, finding you here in this, this wasteland… has given me hope, however small. Perhaps I will forget this, come the time when the world burns and everything we have worked for disappears, but for the time being… Keep faith. No matter who remembers, who forgets, who knows what… There is a future waiting for you, and things can change."

Zelda wiped her tears away with her left hand, leaving a grimy streak across the bridge of her nose. "I… I don't know. I don't… I can't trust my own thoughts, because—"

"Because you're afraid that Zero will remove you from existence. Because you're fearful for your life, afraid of spending time with anyone else should you be heartlessly ripped away from them." Lucario moved the makeshift gauntlet he had made closer, its iron edge catching Zelda's eye instantly. "If this world is so bitter, expect it. There is a life worth living somewhere, Zelda. You just have to find it."

Lucario's shelter faded away, and Zelda was standing before Zero's throne, suffused in the acerbic light of Ripple Star's dusk-red sky. Zero stood in front of her as the wind howled and lifted his robes away from his pale skin. "When you would like your suffering to end, just tell me. Call out in pain, and I will answer. Your identity will be cleansed, and I will rule forever."

"I can kill you," Zelda raged suddenly as fire bloomed in her metal hand. "I can't let you live."

"And neither can I." Zero drew a knife from underneath the folds of his robe. "If I can control your body, I will rebuild my empire. And never again will I underestimate vagrants, martyrs like you who're driven by false purpose. You've proven to me the effectiveness of your determination, your passion for the lies you believe to be true. I've learned my lesson, and I've seen enough."

Zelda looked closer at Zero's weapon.

It was Snake's knife.

Zelda unsheathed her sword and lunged. There was nothing else to fight for, nothing else to do. There was only Zero, standing proud in her blurring eyesight as his limbs whirled and danced—

Zelda swung and Zero blocked, shoved her blade to the side… She roared, pointed her sword at Zero's chest as vermillion flames leapt off its point. Zero moved to the side, stabbed out; Zelda raised her gauntlet to block the dagger's edge…

A shockwave spread throughout Zelda's body as the knife made contact… Zelda staggered as her knees wobbled, and Zero lunged in extending a hand and pressing his palm against her forehead…

Zelda fell to her knees, a scream building in her throat as the past came forward to haunt her… She was standing before Addie as she yelled and yelled, as the Mansion's decrepit ceiling shook with the force of her indignant words.

"I can't trust any of you," Addie roared, waving her arms and gesturing at the door. "Maybe I'll just, y'know, just walk out on you guys because maybe you'll do the same; I don't know! I can pretend to like you… But I don't mean it, I can't mean it if you'll just turn around and leave me for dead…!"

"Addie," Zelda said, shivering in the shade of the ruins, "we wouldn't ever leave you. We couldn't."

"I don't know that, I wouldn't know… Of course I wouldn't know, because, because…" Addie rambled, blinking back tears as she said, "I can't trust any of you if I trusted Lucario, and he tried to kill me. He tried to kill me, and what happened to Snake, huh? Whatever happened to 'teamwork' and 'cooperation', to being nice? This… this is ridiculous. If you want to get killed fighting Zero, great, but… You've told me all these things, and… and I don't think I can believe you anymore."

Zelda opened her mouth, but Addie interrupted and said, "No, no, forget it. Forget I ever said anything, don't worry about it… I'll just completely ignore the fact that people are dying for some stupid reason and that we're allowed to just stay here and rest, maybe wait it out… If you could find Snake, you could find someone else. Then at least we'd have a chance, and maybe the people who come next will be more trustworthy…!"

Zelda could say nothing; she could only watch and wait as Addie stomped out of the room, shaking the dusty, forlorn walls as ash sprinkled the ground.

Suddenly Zelda was plunged back into her fight with Zero, and now the fallen angel had kicked her aside… She yelled, staggered to her feet and readied her blade as the earth swum beneath her, as the air grew cold and stale.

"Look at this," Zero snapped, extending his left arm and turning his palm skyward. "Look at the anguish you have caused. This is your fault. You failed, in every conceivable way."

An image spiraled up from Zero's hand and fractured into countless mirror images. In each window of space, the past was suspended in time, frozen in an eternal silence that would not be touched by the passage of life. In one of them, Ribbon curled up beside Snake as she snored quietly… In another, Addie sat by the ocean, quietly crying as she feebly gripped a blue rose in one hand; Zelda glanced at another image and saw Lucario and Kris together on Dark Star, the Pokémon staring expressionless as Ribbon's eyes shined with tears.

"And they're all dead," Zero whispered. "They're all dead, and there is nothing left for them."

Zelda swung wildly, and Zero whirled out of the way. "You couldn't even save yourself. You were never good at anything. What makes you think you are? What makes you think that your decisions matter, that your words carry meaning?"

Zero stabbed, and Zelda gasped as the blade sank hilt-deep into her stomach. She fell backward, choking as she tasted metal in the back of her throat, as the ground tilted sickeningly beneath her wobbling feet.

In the fogginess that blanked out her mind, drowned her ears in the rushing of her own blood, Zero said, "You couldn't protect them, you couldn't protect yourself. You say you fight for love, justice, passion and heart. But… what good has that ever done you, princess? What good has your love ever done you, if all of your friends are gone, if the world will die in a fiery blaze with or without you?"

Zelda steadied herself, held a shaking hand over the hole in her stomach. Blood oozed between her fingers as her lungs heaved. "You… you couldn't understand."

"Indeed. And neither could you." Zero stalked closer, and Zelda staggered back. Still, he kept approaching, kept glaring at her with his one red eye crying tears of blood. "But, I know this. Your mind is a breeding ground for pain, suffering, sorrow. If only I could use that, seeing as you won't find any meaning in it. Yet… you still insist on putting up a fight…?"

Zelda bit her lip, blinked away the haze that gathered in the back of her eyelids. "I… I can't let you win."

"Fine, fine." Zero shrugged, shook his head so the bandages around his ragged scalp loosened slightly. "Do whatever you wish. But, know that I will not spare you. I am done playing that game. Your memories are no longer sacred, but it's not as if they were at the start. I can do what I want, just as you can. And yet, even knowing that… Your life has amounted to nothing. Your identity is mine, Zelda. Good riddance."

Zero pushed forward, palm open, and Zelda felt the rough skin of his open hand brush up against her brows.

Suddenly she was standing in a field of flowers, pale and shivering under the gleam of a setting sun.

Her stomach no longer burned; when she reached a hand over to feel it, she felt nothing. There was no hole, no gash.

Somewhere nearby a creek crawled and trickled through the trees, past the open forest grove that surrounded her. In the distance, birds chirped, small creatures scurried along the forest floor and rustled the leaves underfoot.

"This is a nice memory," Zero's formless voice said, growling gently. "Or, rather, a dream…? I can't be bothered to tell the difference. You, Zelda, have a very active imagination, if that's the case. Hopes, dreams… You still have them, which is remarkable, I think. I believe, however, that you are vain, oblivious to the suffering the world tells you to listen to. Fine, then. Do not listen, and be kept in the dark forever. You will not last long."

Zero's voice faded out, until Zelda could hear only the rush of a kindly breeze as it rattled the trees in greeting, wrapped her in a quiet, welcoming embrace.

She cast her eyes forward, and the figure standing in front of her looked up.

Snake stared back at her, his back straight, his body whole once more, his eyes red and unforgiving as they made contact with Zelda's.

Zelda drew her sword, still sheathed at her side. If… If this was a memory, then what would happen if… if she interfered, if the dreams within her own head were shattered by the very person who had them?

She… she couldn't stop here. She'd come too far to be stopped.

No matter what it was, she had to keep going. For them. For their sake. She couldn't let Zero have the last laugh—

Snake suddenly lunged, his knife extended. Zelda could barely raise her own weapon to block, and even then she lost her balance and could barely recover as Snake pressed his advantage. He swung out, and Zelda felt her gauntlet ring as the tremor of the blow worked its way through her sword arm. Her eyesight was filled with motion, with a blur of sliver and icy metal, unrelenting as it struck out at her, time and time again—

Flowers stirred and scattered restlessly as their dancing feet kicked up clouds of dirt and fallen petals. Zelda cried out as she raged, lashed forward. Snake blocked, threw her arm to the side and closed in. She staggered back, put her sword in front of her as flames flickered along the edge… She sidestepped and stabbed; the tip of her blade sank into Snake's stomach as she thrust forward—

Zelda immediately withdrew her sword. She couldn't. She couldn't. He didn't deserve that… he was—

Snake recovered, and suddenly he had thrown her to the ground, the earth whirling underneath her. When Zelda fell the side of her forehead slammed against the ground; she tasted copper in the back of her mouth as her eyelids fluttered closed…

No. She couldn't give up, not yet, not—

She jumped up to her feet, barely able to ignore the swimming sensation in the pit of her stomach. She just wanted to curl up somewhere and lie down and rest and not have to deal with any of this… She just wanted to walk out and forget about all of this, all of it—

She swung, but Snake wasn't there… He had somehow sidled over to her left and stabbed forward… Zelda grabbed his wrist with her hand and twisted it, twisted it until she could feel something snapping underneath her iron grip; Snake roared and wrenched his torn wrist out of her grasp, and Zelda felt like ripping out her own heart. Sorry, Snake, I didn't mean to, I—

Snake punched forward with his other hand, and Zelda felt something in her right cheek snap and break as his knuckles collided with her skin; she stumbled backwards, lost her balance and barely regained it as Snake stabbed forward once more… She blocked, but he had already stabbed again, and it was just a cycle, and Zelda could barely focus… The stinging in her cheek was unbearable, and if she opened her mouth she was afraid her jaw would fall off or she would somehow mess up her face even more—

Zelda staggered, rasped, "Snake… You, you know me. You know who I am…"

Snake struck, and Zelda grunted with the strain of holding his arms away from her. "David, please, please. You, of all people… I know you could fight it. Don't let Zero control you, please…"

His reply was a silent, unforgiving snarl. He pushed forward, and Zelda leaned away. In Zero's voice, he gasped, "You don't understand me, you don't understand him. You never could. Let him kill you, let him murder you, let him ravage your conscience. It matters not what you do from here."

Zelda burst through his defenses, shrugging the weight of his arms to the side but suddenly Snake had kicked forward… She felt his foot as it slammed into her stomach, as bile rose in her throat, and she barely recovered in time to catch the next punch Snake threw with her left hand. She brought her sword to bear in her gauntlet, flames licking the sides of her face as she stared Snake in his eyes with black irises.

"I can't, I can't," Zelda howled to the winds, the unmoved sunset. "I can't. You can't make me, Zero…!"

"You've lost everything. You've lost them, and soon, you will lose yourself. What's wrong with losing something else?" Snake's mouth moved in perfect unison with Zero's voice. "He is nothing. You are nothing. The whole world will be grateful for this lesson. Give up."

Zelda shook her head. "I can't, you can't make me—"

"Give up!" Zero screamed, and the earth underneath their feet seemed to tremble with the weight of his words. "You could never understand him, where he came from, who he is! You can only hope to _pity him,_ to give him the attention he doesn't need!"

"Snake, it's me—"

"_Give up!_" Snake swung violently and threw Zelda to the ground. He brought his leg forward in a whirl, kicked into her chest. "_He is meaningless!_ Make this easy for me and give up! Give yourself up, and you will know nothing, and it would be better than living with nothing and pretending to understand something—"

She choked on the blood in her mouth, rose to her knees then to her feet. Her sword lay on the ground next to her. "I won't let you," Zelda said softly, gathering herself as she took a step back. "I can't. You won't be the one to decide."

Zelda closed her eyes, took a steady breath.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in another memory, another time, facing Ribbon as the fairy wiped at her eyes, as the forest around them grew still and respectful in its sacred silence.

Ribbon said, nose congested, "Thanks, Zelda. I… I needed to hear that, really. Thanks, and… sorry for, for being a nuisance."

"Don't be. You never were one." Zelda felt her heart soften, the knot in her stomach settle. "And… You deserve something better than what we've given you."

"No, no, don't say that," Ribbon said, shaking her head as her pink hair bobbed about her face. "It's… It's just something I have to get used to. I mean, people like Snake deal with this kind of stuff all the time, right…? He's… That's just the way his life shaped out to be, I guess… But he's not mean about it, he's not bitter. Right?"

"I guess so." Zelda glanced briefly at her gauntlet. "I… Yeah, I guess so. He… He's a good man. Despite all of this."

Ribbon nodded. "You ever think about how we… We kind of, um, are… _worse_, than him…? I mean, I just… I don't know."

Zelda wrung her hands and whispered, "Yeah. I see what you mean. I understand."

The quiet shared between them was gentle, graceful as the fog scattered under the sun's warm gleam.

After one placid moment, Ribbon said, "I don't know if Snake wants you to know this, but… He's, ah, he said he knew you better than he did me. I think you should know this; you deserve to. Just, don't tell him I told you. He might not like it."

"Ribbon," Zelda said warily, "what are you getting at?"

"I… I know his real name. Snake told me."

"He did…?"

"Yeah, here."

And Ribbon told her.

After Zelda had pulled away, she asked, head swimming, "Are you sure you want me to know this?"

"Yeah." Ribbon said, "I hope you don't mind. I mean, sometimes… Sometimes, you have to trust others with all that you have. Yourself, too… Trust yourself. And, just… Be nice, okay?"

Zelda closed her eyes once more, and when she opened them, she was back in the sullen grove, her lungs wheezing, her chest heaving.

And in her hands, she carried a bow.

As Snake drew closer, Zelda caught the light arrow that had materialized in front of her in a halo of gold. She clenched her hand around the bow, drew back the string as she nocked the arrow, turned it to face Snake's heart.

Time slowed. Zero's voice was once more at her side. "Ah. I knew. I had always known, and I'd always told you. But, even now, when you admit to your faults, you're hesitating. I knew that, too. You were always too mindless, too, ignorant and selfish to understand."

Zelda's breath caught in the back of her throat. "I know."

Several steps in front of her, Snake opened his mouth and spoke in Zero's voice. "Of course. I'm glad you've acknowledged it, even if I don't remember what being glad is about."

Zelda took in a breath.

"Things could have been different," she said.

And she let go of the bowstring.

The arrow blurred, and Snake fell. Zelda caught a glimpse of his eyes, his electric blue eyes as he collapsed to his knees then onto his side, the arrow shaft buried deep in his chest.

She rushed forward without a thought, threw her bow to the side and caught him just before his head hit the ground… Zero's roar of anger had faded long before, and the light of the sunset grew dark, gray as the world disappeared before them.

Zelda cradled his body, propped his head up while his breath fluttered. She reached for his hand and found it, wrapped her shaking metal fingers around his.

Snake choked, "I'm… I'm sorry—"

"Don't worry about me, David," she said gently. "I'll be fine."

He wheezed, coughed, "Y-You deserve better than this—"

Zelda shook her head quietly, ran a hand over his forehead. "I'll be fine. I will. I… I promise."

She noticed, dimly, from far away, that his eyes were closed. She hadn't noticed before, but… his hand was no longer gripping hers, and he wasn't breathing.

Zelda squeezed his hand, softly called out his name.

He didn't answer.

Around them, the field began to dissolve into dust, into soulless ash. The blossom trees lost their flowers, and the wind scattered them into the unknown.

As Zero's legacy faded around her, Zelda turned skyward and looked to the remaining glow of the setting sun, crying silently as the flower petals twirled and danced in circles about her head.

She knew Snake couldn't see them.

XxX


	42. Reset

**A/N: I'll have stuff to say after this, but... Thank you for reading. It's been a wonderful experience.**

XxX

_Reset_

A collective, heavy breath sighed through the fabric of darkness, tore holes in time itself as the rips and numbing chasms mended behind its passage. The breath gathered about itself in tightening coils, formed a circle of memories, of timeless moments that shone for one magnificent second before sinking bodily into an eternal, sunless abyss.

Somewhere out there in the borderless night, a star-filled sky chirped and chittered rapidly in response. The breath carried through this void, spread itself throughout the universes, the worlds that lay dormant, sleeping pronate in the gaping, heartless maw of all that was.

Like a mold that soon filled, the breath lay itself in the worn and twisted, sabotaged gaps as time unfroze, as all that ever was and existed in space settled into a normal routine, as the fragments of a lost land, of a timeless era flitted about without substance or an end-goal.

Somehow, somewhere, these memories, these malevolent fragments found a homely place to reside, a cranny in the rock wall of boundless existence, of a ceaseless and all-seeing conscience to lie quietly in, waiting for the right time to strike out, to make themselves known.

When the shattered souls had at last settled, the eyes of the limitless world had moved on, on to a different time and place.

XxX

Soon it was morning, and Zelda found herself sitting upright in bed as the sun streamed weakly between her drifting drapes, floating aloft on the sunrise's gentle breeze. Outside in the forest, birds flitted about on agile wings, twittered amongst themselves as the day carried on.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stretched out her arms.

Last night had been restless, and Zelda had dreamt of something… foreign, faraway, as if in an entirely different reality. Things were all very confusing, perplexing, and she couldn't really pinpoint what it was… In fact, the memories of the dream were distant, as if she were viewing them through a fogged-up lens. Everything felt so jumbled and confused, and she didn't know how to react to any of it.

What was it…?

And, why was it bothering her so very much?

Rising out of bed, Zelda went to her curtains and pulled them open. The cold, dew-laden morning extended its chilled hand to greet her, to stroke her cheek with drops like weightless diamonds. The trees stood tall, firm in the mist as the ocean roared in the distant backdrop.

But there was something so… off about all of that. None of it felt right.

She turned away from the window. What was she so concerned about? Sure, everyone else had left after the last tournaments ended, but she wanted to wait around a little longer in the Mansion, explore the woods, spend some time alone. She needed it, and maybe… Maybe she could greet the newcomers if they came early for the next tournament. Anything was possible.

That was nothing to worry about. There was nothing out-of-sorts; not a single thing was scheduled out of place. Everything was fine.

So, then…

What was it?

Zelda yawned and covered her mouth. She stumbled drunkenly to the door of her room and yanked it open with a hammering _thud_.

The hallway before her was empty; the carpet at her feet was stained with a spectrum of suspicious colors, strange tints and substances. Beams of dust fell like stars as the light from the window trailed behind them.

"Hello?" Zelda called out, voice hoarse. "Anyone there?"

There was no response.

She nodded to herself. So, they _had_ all left already. That was to be figured. She had distinctly remembered talking to people the night before, chatting the evening away as the moon shone high and drunkenly in the night, as people sang and laughed to send off an otherwise chaotic and unpredictable tournament season.

It was at this time that Zelda was aware of something… missing in the bottom of her chest, almost as if a piece of the puzzle had gone missing with everyone else in the Mansion. Something about this just wasn't right, no matter how things seemed. The walls, the floor, the ceiling showed signs of… of life, and spoke of eternal memories, of grand times that would not fade, and yet…

She was beginning to doubt them.

Head swimming, Zelda crept down the corridor, careful to avoid any of the more recent stains. She'd head down to the kitchen, find or make something to eat, and go from there. No use standing around and worrying; she could enjoy her time here, before other people and the early-birds started flooding in—

She proceeded down the hall and found herself at the top of the staircase. For one moment Zelda sat on the top step, thinking, wondering about what had been. She fiddled with the sleeves of her loose shirt, rubbed her arms to ward off the cold.

Zelda got up abruptly and dashed down the remaining steps. She didn't need to eat anything immediately. That could wait. But, since everyone was gone, and the Mansion was quiet, this was a good time to go out back and sit in the garden, listen to the sea beneath her. No one would take away her peace of mind; no one would disturb her with pretentious omens and long-winded stories. No, out there… She'd be alone. It wouldn't matter what time of day it was. It wouldn't matter to anyone but herself… Herself and herself only.

No one could say anything otherwise.

When she reached the doors to the garden, she pried them open carefully and squeezed herself through. As they slammed ominously behind her, the impact echoed, as if mirroring the discomfort that still twisted her heart into a knot.

XxX

The first person Zelda saw when she stepped outside was Link. He was sitting on a nearby boulder as he serenaded the salty waters that clashed against the cliffs. His eyes were closed, his brows poised as his blond hair swept about his forehead. Zelda tiptoed closer, not wanting to break the spell of his harmonies, his rounded rhythms. She didn't want to disturb him; who knows what might happen if she did—

As she sat down carefully next to him, she spotted her harp lying at his feet. Without thinking, she asked, "Were you going to give that back? If you haven't had it for as long as you would like, that's fine; give it to me later. Just… be sure to get it back to me."

Link gently took the ocarina from his mouth. "I was," he said kindly, softly so that she could barely hear him over the relentless waves. "I was going to stop by this morning and see if you were awake. I suppose I don't have to do that now."

"Mmm." Zelda plucked her harp off the grass, tested the strings. "You'd be right in that. I needed to come out here for my own time. I needed to… to think, I guess. There was something last night that bothered me."

"Was it a bad dream?"

"Yes," she replied. "Did you have one, as well?"

He nodded. "I don't remember the details; it's all too fuzzy for me to recall properly. There were… violent things, things that made me worried, concerned for us, our safety, our future. I can't recall much besides that."

"Mine was the same; much of it was unclear… I remember people… dying, losing themselves to something greater than themselves… There were explosions, the sounds of war. I don't know, Link. If you had them, do you know anyone else who did?"

"No. As far as I know, everyone left last night. Come to think of it, last night's events are getting a bit foggy, too."

He was right. As Zelda thought about them, about their parties and banquets, the lightness, the giddiness that kept her bouncing, playful began to fade. "You're right. It doesn't feel as if the party was last night, even… It might have been a long time ago, and maybe I just can't remember the details…"

Link nodded and added, "I can't seem to remember details well. I… I just hope what had happened wasn't a sign of things to come. I couldn't bear to see it happen in real life."

"You mean in the dream…?"

"Yes. There are things there that… worried me, that destroyed my faith. There was a voice, convincing me to give in, to let him dictate orders… And I… I did things that I regret, now. I would never be able to forgive myself if I did that to anyone I know. I couldn't."

Zelda nodded. "Neither could I. As in, if I had done anything to hurt others that way, I—"

A suddenly creeping thought wormed its way through her head, settling deep in the forlorn, isolated cracks that had been emptied long before. She felt as if the sun had suddenly been ripped out of the sky; she shifted abruptly, clutched her harp tightly and placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "Could it have been something at the banquet last night that we forgot? Did we forget to do something? Was it a problem we could have prevented, if we knew…?"

"Zelda, I… What? What about last night?"

"You know, the going-away celebration we had. Was there something missing from that? Did someone not attend it? Were there people missing?"

Link fixed her in a strange, puzzled glance as his eyebrows scrunched together. "Zelda, there was no celebration last night. People just left on their own time. You may have been asleep this morning when everyone else left, too."

"You just said that the party last night—"

He shook his head. "Never had I said that."

"Link… Are you all right?"

He nodded quickly. "Yes, I am."

So, then, what was it…?

Link placed a hand on top of hers as he rose to his feet, tucked his ocarina away. "I can't speak for what you think there was; maybe there was something I wasn't aware of. But, from what I know, there was no party last night, and you may be imagining things."

"But, then, the dream you were telling me about… The disturbing one…"

Link shook his head. "I don't know what that is, either. Maybe it was just you who had it, and you thought I had mentioned it in passing. Anyway, I need to get going."

As the Hylian turned away, Zelda suddenly said, "Link, are you done with my harp? I mean, would you like to borrow it for a few more days…? I wouldn't mind letting you borrow it; I just want to make sure that you'd be taking care of it, then…"

"No, Zelda. Thank you very much, but you can have it. I guess… I might ask for it again someday soon, perhaps not now. Thanks again, anyway."

He walked back inside, never looking behind him.

As soon as Link was out of earshot, Zelda rubbed her eyes, stretched her arms and stared at the restless waves reaching below. Maybe she was hallucinating, and maybe she needed more sleep, or something. If she had slept a little longer, she wouldn't be freaking out at memories that weren't even true.

She had seen Link at the banquet; he'd been there, celebrating with the rest of them. And yet, he was denying it. He was being honest, and he didn't remember a single moment of it. Which was strange, because normally Link had a very good memory—

_But I don't._

Zelda started, massaged the bridge of her nose. Why would she think that, of all things…? Where did that thought even come from?

_I promised him. I promised I would be okay. I wouldn't let Zero win._

Who?

What was that supposed to mean…?

A spark of an idea, a fleeting memory burst to life in her mind. Zelda reeled as the pictures came together in a single jumbled portrait, a moving, shifting whirl of color and light. One by one, the puzzle pieces clicked with one another, as the moments of the past clattered and were seamlessly stitched with each other.

She couldn't have.

She would have never let herself forget what she did.

No matter what, she wouldn't forget. She wouldn't forget his face, what he had told her as he bled out in front of her, as she watched his body and his fragmented memory within her own head shatter—

Zelda hastily wiped her eyes, beads of sea water stinging on her chapped, dry lips.

He was gone, gone forever.

How could she have let herself forget him, ever?

She rose to her feet. There was no way she would forget. She couldn't afford to. She'd never be able to live it down, to bear the guilt of forgetting them, forgetting what he did… Although, if she had forgotten she wouldn't have even felt guilt about it because _she would have forgotten and she wouldn't have remembered him_—

She walked closer to the cliff's edge, harp in hand. Zelda sat down heavily once again, fingers numb as the sibilant winds howled in selfless mourning.

There was nothing she could do, nothing to say or do… It was too late for her, too late for them and _she would never see him again_—

Zelda closed her eyes and hastily wiped away the tears from underneath her eyelids. Damn it, damn it… Why, why did she have to—

Why, why—

But no matter what happened, whatever… thing had made her forget, she had fought it off… She'd gotten her memories back, and she remembered everything about who they were, why they fought, why she fought… She knew the people she had betrayed, the people who had betrayed her… She could still feel the kiss of cold metal on her right arm, lingering like an iron ghost, like a drifting phantom.

But all of this was the past. She wasn't at fault. No one was; what had happened had already happened. There was no way to go back, to return to the corrupted state of a desolate world and bring about a different ending, a happier finale. It was all right, because…

Because she couldn't do anything about it.

Even then, she couldn't forgive herself.

She never would.

XxX

_Zelda's Letter, Later that Day_:

Addie, hey. Hi. I guess it's been a while. We haven't really talked in a long time.

Actually, I don't know how long it's been. Things are back to normal, yet time doesn't feel any less messed up. Maybe it's worse. I can't tell that clearly, and I don't know what to say about anything nowadays.

It's all so confusing and mixed together. Maybe that's why I decided to write this: I needed somewhere to rant, to vent. You were always good at listening.

Were you, actually? I don't exactly remember how you reacted when people ranted to you before. Whatever. Your name popped into my head first, so I'm writing to you, and only you. Feel honored.

And hell, I know you might not ever get this letter. I don't know, but… somehow I think, I know you forgot everything. If I was the only one to recognize the past, and if Link doesn't remember, either…

I remember killing him. I had to kill Link, and now that everything's back to normal, Link's forgotten things, too. He doesn't remember what Zero did to him, or what he did to me, or what he had done to anyone else… He's clueless; he has no idea. Everyone else has left already, and I'm sure they don't remember. When the world reset… Well, they had nothing to hold on to, I think. Or maybe they just didn't completely want to hold on. I don't know, and I don't want to ask. I'm afraid of what they'll say in response.

I had to write this down. I couldn't keep these thoughts in, only for myself to read and think. If I'm the only one, how cruel would it be to have to talk to other people about this…? How long would I have to suffer with the people who forgot what I fought for, what _he_ fought for?

I hate myself, sometimes. I really do.

I don't want to mention his name. I don't want to remember him, but I'm afraid to forget, because I feel like I have a duty to keep. I need to remember, because if I don't, then who will? Link won't. I haven't seen Kirby, or Bowser, or Ganondorf or whoever else was there with us. So I won't know whether they remembered, too.

All I remember is all I have.

I remember what he said to me before. He said that I had deserved better. That I deserve to live happily, without any greater force or opposition telling me otherwise. And he believed it. He believed every word of what he had told me, knowing full well that I had just—

I can't finish that sentence. My pen is shaking. I don't understand it.

Why did I remember, of all people? Why me?

But whatever the reason for my knowledge, for the experiences I have somehow kept… I want to forget the pain, the horror of losing him, losing you all. You won't remember, which makes everything twice as unbearable. I can't. I can't bring myself to. It's… It's too much.

I'm alone, Addie. I'm all alone.

I don't know who to turn to, whether I can even trust my own head, my heart.

And I don't think you can help me.

But I don't want to forget him. I don't want to forget the man he was, the person he made himself out to be… I wouldn't do him justice; I wouldn't keep his memory sacred. I just can't forget.

I want to, but I don't, now that I know what I should have forgotten. I'm a bit lost, as you can possibly tell. Just… Addie. Help me out, here. Please, if you can. Help me, and let me help you. If you remember. If you know what I'm even writing about. If you even know about anything, if you remember only a fraction of what really happened.

Again, I don't know if you will see this letter. I might not even be able to get it to you. I don't know where you live, where you are at this very moment. And even if I did, how I would transport this letter across dimensions would be some extra work that I wouldn't be able to comprehend.

Sorry, Addie. I didn't want it to end this way. I don't…

I don't think any of us ever did.

I think that we really were hopeful. Secretly, we all wanted to live, to be happy once more, to exist here on this horrible, cluttered earth and die honestly, with compassion. No matter what Zero said, what he did, who he murdered or tortured, we all wanted the same things.

I guess what we wanted wasn't enough to get us through.

But…

If you somehow get this letter later on… If, somehow, you find this on your home planet or wherever and read it through, and you somehow know what I'm rambling to you about and why there are dried tears on this paper and countless mistakes that I crossed out—

Just tell Ribbon hello for me and David, all right…? He'll miss you, I'm sure, and… He's not here to tell you, or me, or Ribbon or Kirby in person.

Maybe that's my fault.

I'll see you soon. Sorry.

XxX

Later that night, Zelda sat on a bench outside in the garden, her fingers clasped together on her lap as the stars shined dramatically, as the moon outshone the gleam of the cresting waves crashing below.

She wiped at her eyes, arms stiff and numb, her wrist aching. A swooping sensation sat in the bottom of her stomach, waiting in silence as her heart kept tightening.

Below her, the sea churned restlessly, grasping at something it would never hold. Flecks of frothing water rose into the air, flying silently before being swallowed into the endless abyss that birthed them. Above her, the moon gleamed elegantly, tracing a halo of pearly light about itself.

Zelda set her hands on her trembling lab, struggling to breathe through the isolation of the night, the merciless quiet that cloaked her in her own shroud of suffering.

Who was she to tell? Who was she to turn to, now that everything was gone, and she was the shell of a demon left behind to remember it all?

She would never be able to look at herself in a mirror again, ever.

Ever.

Goosebumps crawled stealthily crawled up her arm as Zelda rubbed her palms together, breathed into them, breathed the life into them that she hadn't felt in so very long—

The stars above caught her attention, twinkled invitingly, extending spectral hands to bring her aside them, to show her the wonders that lay outside. She wanted so much to join them, to let them take her where they willed, to lead her along a path they designed for her…

Because, because surely, they would have it all planned out, so nothing like what she experienced would ever happen again… Surely, they had that power: to do anything but to leave her struggling in the dusts of the past—

Zelda leaned forward, cradled her head in her hands.

There was nowhere to go. There was nothing she could do, and she could never turn back the clock if she tried; she couldn't. This was it.

This was it, then.

Zelda rose onto her feet, brushed the tears from her lap, sniffled, fought to hold the onslaught in her chest down, to keep it contained if only for a little while—

She strained, closed her eyes shut but the tears would not relent; the hole in her chest was swelling and she couldn't stop to think about it—

Zelda choked, her chest numb.

There was nothing left for them… For him, for her, for them.

She walked away from the ocean, away from the lashing depths that so effortlessly mirrored her, followed her thoughts. Her feet parted the sodden grass as she approached the garden, the ocean's salient winds tugging at her hair, blowing it over her face, her shoulders.

When she approached a low-lying hedge, she bent her knees, crouched close to the earth as her blurred eyes took in the wilting, smothered form of the flowers that stood weakly, rooted helplessly to the cracked dirt.

The petals of these blue roses ripped away, revealing at the center a core of nothing, of a shriveled husk of a life torn apart at the hands of an unforgiving sun. They were arranged in a haphazard line, jagged, forlorn as they hunched resignedly over the ground that had once brought them about and had now blamelessly taken away from them what they dearly needed.

Zelda gently plucked one from its lonely place, caressing its charred stem that slowly withered to dust in her hands. Soon only its voiceless, heartless core remained, and the petals flew away to be scattered over the endless waves.

Her eyes followed the paths of these petals. When at last they disappeared from view, she turned her eyes down to her palm.

The rose had faded away…

But she wouldn't forget it.

She owed them that much.

**-End-**

XxX


	43. Acknowledgements and Credits

XxX

Thank you, all of you.

If you've stuck by me this far, if you've followed both this story and the proverbial roller-coaster my writing has so precariously followed ever since the very beginning, thank you. At the same time, if you recently hopped on board, thank you to you, too.

I wouldn't have made it this far without your support. I would have lost faith in myself, in my creativity. It's no one's fault that I am prone to taking feedback (or a lack of) very seriously. The feedback I got kept me going, and it's not fair to equate a lack of actual reviews with a lack in the quality of the reviews I got. In fact, there's no reason to do that, because the reviews I got were both _insightful and showed that many readers were actually invested_.

This is my first ever completed story here, and it's given me a small taste of what being a writer is like (if not one constrained by any sort of professional schedule or practices, that is). Has this been an enlightening experience, sincerely? Yes, I'd say it has been.

I've been struggling to come up with what to type here. I don't exactly know how to frame my words, but just know this: I had a very, very great time writing this. I've fought with horrible plot progression, gotten stuck with countless writer's blocks, and sacrificed some hours of sleep for the best cliffhanger possible. But, now I realize I could express myself in a story in such a way I hadn't thought of before (through characters that already exist, sure, but that's what "fan fictions" are for, anyway).

Thank you so much.

Should I write another story on this website, I hope you'll be there to read it.

A few very special thanks go to **MidsummerMoonlight99, SeththeGreat, and Paradigm of Writing** for showing unadulterated interest for everything that transpired upon your computer or tablet or phone screens (wherever you did most of the reading) and for never letting up on the feedback. Thanks for being there.

Well, that's it. This is the end of a journey, of a single flame of a ridiculous, out-of-this-dimension absurdity. And somehow, by some divine miracle, you guys enjoyed it.

I cannot say it enough.

Thank you.

XxX


	44. -Extra: Bleeding Transcendence-

**A/N: Hi there; fancy seeing you again! Got a little one-shot here for you. This will happen many times... It's hard for me to abandon this world completely, and if I write anything interesting, here it will be. Hopefully, you can puzzle who this one-shot is about. Also, all of the extras will have dashes before and after the titles.**

XxX

He didn't know why they kept trying.

Even after scores of disappointing moments, years of horrid scars and burns and disasters, they never gave up. They said, they claimed with righteousness that they had reason to try. In fact, they had plenty of reason to try. They saw truth, they thought. They saw the truth of happiness and harmony and cohesion and empathy.

Oh, so much empathy. When the world had burned itself out and the times of prosperity had long since passed, those that weren't as empathetic as them were outcasts, misers stuck in a greedy, miserable world. They were caught up in their goodness, and they were stubborn.

And whoever tried to keep up with them was left in the dust. Their lives were like that, every day: unrelenting in their hope, foolishly stubborn, pigheaded. They wanted so many things.

They knew nothing else, and it made him sick. If only they knew what could happen, what _might_ happen if they only considered the possibilities. Nothing could be worse than what had already passed.

If paranoia kept them safe, then why wouldn't they just go along with the plans he had in mind? Paranoia kept them too safe, too… clueless, mindless. Surely they saw that.

Then, they, those fools, wouldn't have to stick their necks out for some ridiculous matter of dignity or the skin and safety of a random stranger.

He could not care less about what they thought. He didn't care if they wanted to spend forever doing what they were doing, but he hated seeing people waste their time, their small-yet-so-ridiculously-big lives. Their every move seemed to contradict themselves. And why bother, anyway, if the world was so small, and there was so little of everything to go around…?

He just wanted their contradiction to end. He just wanted them to stop working for things that felt so small and meaningless; still, these were things the humans cherished _so very much_. It sickened him to his core, gave him a bleak, black, suffocated feeling in the back of his throat, and he could not think about them like people if they wasted their lives, burning themselves to spent cinders looking for a life no one would let them live.

They believed in trust? Love? Kindness? How could they? They should have known better. The idea… the mere idea that there could be a world free of the silent ghost that hangs on the shoulder until the people must then turn away from everything they love… It was useless, preposterous.

There was no such thing, and miracles were only the dreams and desires of fools. Miracles were only to happen in the mindscapes of men, women, people who wasted away rotting in the plains of the unaccustomed, the weak, and the incurably ignorant. The world was a festering bloodbath for horror and nightmares, and this tempest, this… _chaos_ in life was what their lives amounted to.

But what sickened him more was that people were trying to _change that_.

They were so empathetic; they wanted change. They were so into loving and cherishing each other, and they wanted to help everyone. They were so active and determined that they were willing to sacrifice what little they had.

And he knew how little they had. He had taken many things from them.

He knew.

Who were these infernal idiots? Did they think happiness was a commodity worth sharing, worth spending time looking for when the happiness itself was only to last a second in the true grasp of time? Happiness was almost like medicine: it is apparently necessary to have for humans to live and thrive, but no one in their right mind would, or _should_ enjoy taking it.

Yet how could they treat this… happiness, this weakness of the soul like it was anything different than a blight upon society…?

He hated thinking about them. Usually, that took energy, energy that he wanted to conserve for more important things. Blind hate, raging violence was more his style. It was easy, almost thrilling to let go, let the hate without reason carry him through the waters of tranquility and plunge him into a raging inferno. It was all so symbolic, so meaningful, and so vibrantly violent and gory. He had let go of the controls, and yet his hatred had placed him at the center of something so great that words could not be used. His rage energized him.

It gave him life.

He could think of no reason to stop the calming tirade of rage, so he kept going, kept his hands off the steering wheels and let his boat sail through whatever lake of fire it wished. Vengeance was so easily felt, so easily held on to…

It was wonderful, and yet…

And yet they still chased after their dreams. Those happy bastards, those perfect people with perfect emotions and justified minds, filled with joy and ecstasy and the pleasures of a short life…

They would all pay.

They would all die fairly: without love, happiness, or warmth to hold their hands as they died. Nothing would save them; their miracle-filled delusions would fade to white noise. The hum that they held in their throats, the songs they would sing of the beauty of existence… They would all go. They would finally go silent, and at last…

They would understand.

And then, when it seemed like they would leap back to their feet and fight the natural beauty of anger, he would take that away from them. They wanted to return to their little bubbles of blissful joy; he would not let them. He had tried too long, seen too many idiots throw themselves away for a _morally righteous_ life.

But no, maybe that wasn't the right phrase.

He would drive them away from the _lies they had dreamed_. He wanted them, needed them to see. He wanted them to break inside and view his universe through his eyes. He wanted them to watch, ponder, and scorn the world through a different, darker lens. That was truth. That was reality. There was no need to fight it.

Then, finally, after their happiness would fade to black, their worlds would turn, and they…

They will understand.

XxX


	45. -Bleeding Corruption-

**A/N: You could call this an AU, seeing as this will be different from the canon I have already established.**

XxX

"My lord," Matt said suddenly, "what are you going to do with him?"

Zero looked down at the mute body at his feet, the blood gathering around the mouth lying open, the stump of a left arm slowly trickling. "I do not know. This man… he's a mystery to me."

Matt swirled around and glared down to the unforeseeable bottom of the cliff, the endless ravine. "Did you have to do that, Zero? Did you have to kill her? Surely there was another way to… to manipulate her, to use her for your own purposes. Maybe… maybe you just missed a chance for power. I would not know, for you know better than I do. I cannot judge your choices—"

"Addie was… replaceable. Think of all the determined people who had once been like her… Think of all the children who wanted to improve themselves the way she did." Waving a hand over his robes, Zero took a step back. "I felt very little I could use. Most of it, most of her… influence, came from him."

He pointed down at Snake's body. "He has more influence than we thought. Perhaps I thought I once knew the extent of his capabilities. Perhaps I thought I had gotten enough power from his suffering, the mere scent of his existence. But, I realize… there is more to him than I thought."

Matt pierced him with a questioning glance. "What do you mean?"

Zero bent over and knelt at Snake's side. He closed his eye and held a white, bloodstained hand over the mercenary's sweating forehead. "Can you sense that? The struggle of his life, the suffering? Matt, this is what I was trying to tell you. He is more than the sum of his parts, but at the same time, he still has accomplished nothing. His world is left in tatters, his life having burned itself out despite the blood he has shed."

The fallen angel felt something in his stomach tighten; he shivered and muttered, "He has so much left to give, and yet nothing for me to take. Ah, well. I'll take it from him, anyway. He's no longer the judge of what he gets to keep. That privilege has long been taken away."

How could Zero describe it? How could he place into words the rage that was pumping, thrashing inside him? He was riding upon a wave of lava, of crimson blood and the only course of action left was to let the red waters carry him where they wanted to carry him. There was anger within his tightened chest that he couldn't describe, feelings of hatred that simmered inside. He was no longer in control, and he adored every minute of it, even though he couldn't really—

"Zero, what are you doing?"

"You'll see." Zero drew his whip and carefully ripped a venom-coated thorn off it. "He escaped his fate once. He will not escape again. Theoretically, I could let him go, and the thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline… Perhaps that would be more advantageous to me. We'll see."

He carelessly tossed Snake over onto his side, and suddenly Snake had stirred, he was waking up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, choking on the saliva in his throat—

"Snake. There you are." Zero had forced Snake onto his one arm and legs. "Do you remember what happened, or do I need to reiterate for you? No, you don't need that. You're smarter than that. You can remember what happened to Addie, how you _abandoned her and left her to die because no matter what you weren't strong enough_." He could feel the force of his own words, the acerbic taste they left on his tongue. They hummed as they left his mouth; he could feel the impact they had, the mere _scar_, the mark they scored into the air. "So, maybe this is finally where you stop trying to stop—"

Midsentence, Snake was on his feet, shaking and roaring as he charged Zero… The angel hissed and twisted; he reappeared behind Snake and then he had him in a violent headlock. Without hesitation Zero drove the thorn into Snake's left shoulder, where Link had once shot him with a cursed arrow so long ago.

Zero knew; he remembered what it felt like. He remembered how it made him feel…

He was invincible.

"Don't bother," Zero whispered, cooing into Snake's ear as the mercenary howled and cried out. "If you couldn't save Addie you can't save yourself. After all, what is there left to save? You failed her, and you most likely failed them. They will die thinking that you abandoned them. Why did you run off after Lucario, anyway? For revenge? Pitiful. Addie would be so disappointed in you."

Snake was barely conscious. "Addie—"

"No, please. Don't talk; it makes my ears hurt, and my ears have been hurting constantly ever since I first heard you speak." Zero drove the thorn in deeper and twisted it; he could feel the heat in his own blood, the pressure behind the bridge of his nose as his breath became short. He spoke loudly, over the sounds of Snake yelling, "You really are hopeless. You try so hard and yet accomplish nothing. You may say that I am… tragic, misunderstood, begging for attention. I don't need—"

Snake writhed in his grasp, tried to draw away from the thorn that was slowly corrupting his flesh. "Shut… up… You're wrong—"

"Be quiet!" Zero drew the thorn out and had just as soon as driven it back in, piercing Snake's shoulder blade. "Stay silent, and you will suffer less. Actually, go ahead and yell. It will make me feel better. It's your choice… I'm not your guardian. I will kill you, make no mistake about it." And Zero drove the thorn in, twisting it just a tad bit more.

Red flashed in Snake's eyes as he screamed, as blood trickled from his nose. The thorn in Zero's hand grew warm.

"Embrace it." Zero tightened his grasp, brought Snake closer to him in the headlock. "Dark Matter is something you can sympathize with, so why don't you just let it go? Nothing can hurt you then. Your pain will save you, if only you can give in. Your pain will save you, if only you can survive to see the day through."

"Zero," Matt interjected, "you're going to kill him. What good will it do for you then?"

"He will fall under me," hissed Zero as he felt the tip of his makeshift dagger scratch against bone; he had long since blocked out Snake's pleas. "He will fall before he dies. That is the way of the world, for there are things much worse than death, and I have shown him this… And then his lifeblood will be given to me, and I will have so much more power from it—"

"But, my lord, look…"

Snake's breathing had grown soft; his protests and outbursts had diminished. He half-stood in Zero's arms, his heartbeat dimming as the color on his face turned a pale, bleached gray.

Both of his bruised, half-lidded eyes were red.

"I think," Matt said, carefully, "that you can take the thorn out now."

Zero savagely ripped the spike out; blood followed its passage in a ruby trail. "Indeed. Well, that only took an eternity. Perhaps I should be surprised. He was very determined, I would give him that. Unfortunately, determination has no value for me."

Zero slung Snake's near lifeless body over his shoulder. "But there's still some fight left in him. You can sense it now, can't you? When he has been driven into a corner, he still wants to find a way out. There is no give in him."

"Then if there is no give in him…"

"I will make sure there is." Zero closed his eyes, and the shadows around them began to warp, to change shape in preparation for the passage back home. "He can only hold out for so long."

Just as they were about to shadow-warp, Matt said, "Zero, I must ask you something… I need to know, or the curiosity will worm its way into me and stay there."

"Yes?"

"I want to ask again…" Matt fiddled with his robes and stared down at the ground; if he had feet he would have shifted them. He kept his eye low as he said, "what are you going to do with him…? How are you going to… to break him…?"

"Well, I don't have to try very hard. He's almost done for." Zero shrugged carelessly; Snake bounced on his shoulder, looking very much like a broken porcelain doll. "We'll see what I can get out of him."

"Um…" Matt raised a single spectral hand. "Lord Zero…?"

"What is it?"

"I, ah… nevermind," muttered Matt. "I have nothing useful to tell you."

"Yes, well, I suppose you could always ask," Zero said. "Should you want to say something, just let me know."

The swordsman nodded. But in reality, Matt only had an eye for the man lying limp on Zero's shoulder, his once-blue eyes shut tight in his twisting nightmares, his lips locked in a grimace as the lifeless, selfish darkness inside him began to fully awaken.

XxX


	46. -Terminus-

**A/N: I guess I wanted to get this off my chest. This was at one point an alternate ending that never came to be, and this ending also so happens to be the worst possible scenario. If this had actually been in the story I would have most likely written all the plot devices and narratives to a nice closure, but... I'll take what I've got.**

XxX

She had no idea of where she was, where she was headed, what she was even heading to. Nothing made sense, and she was sure that a lot of time had passed since… Since…

Since when?

What was she even thinking about?

Somehow, she remembered the sensation of falling, the feeling that her feet were no longer touching the ground. She had been falling, falling, and something had happened… Something had—

But she couldn't remember. As soon as the memory had almost risen to the surface of her thoughts, it sank back down under, where she could no longer find it. And thus the cycle repeated itself, day after day, hour after incomprehensible hour that had supposedly passed.

There. A memory. She had remembered something.

_Snake._

She needed to find Snake, whoever that was, and get back to him and make sure that he was all right… She had last seen him… in trouble? Maybe?

And now the memory was fading once more; when she thought she had known a tiny tidbit of information, the name, the parcel of her life had once more faded into the abyss. She needed to remember, she needed to work harder, to work the brain inside of her head and keep it working until at least she could keep even _one_ part of… of whatever she had once lost…

_Snake. I need to find him; he had lost a lot of blood and he was about to die_—

But why was this Snake person about to die? In fact, why had he lost so much blood? Did he get a vein cut open, or, or… Or _a limb cut off?_

The thought stuck.

Even if she didn't remember her own name, what she had before that fall, what she had done at the start, she knew him. Snake. Snake. The name fell on her tongue as the puzzle pieces clicked together for her. She felt a sort of lightness inside her, and… did she even have a body to feel light inside in?

She couldn't tell. She couldn't be bothered to find out. Maybe she had lost her body, or what other form she had inhabited before. It was just… Everything around her, inside her head felt… _weird_, out of place, like something had gone wrong and now she was stranded wherever she was…

Snake.

Who was he…? Sure, he was in trouble, but who was he? Had she somehow known him before? Maybe this one guy was a complete stranger and she had somehow gained the power to read into other people's emotions and pain. Maybe they had never met and she was just being super paranoid. Who was he?

Who was he? Had he done something important?

There was something she knew she was missing, something she had to look for, but one name wouldn't help her at all…

_Zelda. Snake._ The words chimed together into a mantra, a series of… letters, words that somehow, for some unforeseen reason, made sense together. _They need help. Maybe not me, but someone needs to be there for them._

Without thinking of where to go, of whom to talk to, the unnamed spirit let herself be carried away by the indomitable tide. Wherever she needed to go, she'd go. There wasn't much else to do, was there…?

Maybe she'd find out.

She was interrupted when the shadows underneath her warped and twisted to form an obsidian plain, coated in violet light… From out of a glasslike tunnel she saw two figures storm off into the darkness, as if the shadows they disappeared into had suddenly devoured them whole. One of them was carrying yet another figure slung over his shoulder; they paid each other no mind.

Did… did they really care so little? They were carrying him around like cargo, like the luggage one would stuff at the back of a boat. Could they really get away with treating someone like this?

There was something off. She knew it. Something… something just didn't feel right.

What was it?

Where were they taking him? Was it somewhere… bad? Miserable, with mortifying conditions?

_His palace. _

_That's where they were taking him. That's… That's where Snake would be. There's no doubt about that._

She didn't know. She didn't know how she knew but somehow she just… knew. It was something, something that had bugged her and she wasn't sure if she was remembering it fully. But, just somehow…

Somehow she knew. Call it a hunch, call it instinct… And yet, somehow, she knew. It was a sensation that rooted itself in her head and stayed there, like a parasite crashing rent-free.

But…

Would it be wise to follow them, those strange and sullen people? Would they mind? She had a sinking feeling, down in the pit of what might have been her stomach, that they would.

_Zelda. I can talk to Zelda. She's intuitive, she'll know who I am and listen to what I have to say…_

The spirit shrugged to herself. Despite the fact that no one was looking up at where she hovered, where she occupied only a mere fraction of the sky that glowed a deep violet, she expected someone to see her shrug, to see her and lend her a helping hand in figuring everything out… Why everything, every bit and piece felt so empty and out of place, why it seemed like so many people were hostile and unforgiving—

Was… was that just the way it was?

_I should go find Zelda anyway._

As she drifted off on her lonely path, she wondered about who these people were… These strange spirits who seemed so detached, so selfish, so wholly devoted to their own causes, thinking that their mentalities might devote others to do the same… Who were they? Why would they act in such a way?

She shook her head in silence. Maybe…

Maybe she could answer that later.

XxX

Hours passed, maybe days, weeks, months. He honestly had no idea. Time was a fragile thing, and he'd stopped caring about a while back. He just didn't know how far back.

Oftentimes, he found himself thinking about what he did before, what could have been done.

Maybe, maybe if they had done something different, if only…

If only everything had worked out.

If only they'd gotten away with it.

Dreams, insubstantial, fleeting, whirled around in his head. They had shown no mercy, no leniency for his plight. There had only been pain, burns, screaming as the day turned to night, as time crawled by and left him behind to silently wither away, alone. The pain did not lessen at night; those spirits haunted his dreams, twisting violently the memories that had once carried him to a better, more blissful place.

He was alone.

No one would come for him.

He'd convinced himself of that long ago. What was the point? What was the point, when everything was meaningless, and everything, every single movement and moment of life was painful, was made into a painful moment that dragged on forever? Why would he bother doing anything, ever again? Who would be there to witness his triumphs, if they were all dead, forgotten, lost…?

He twisted, ripped at his chains with his one arm. He wasn't expecting anything, but just maybe… If he pulled hard enough, if he tried hard enough then that would be enough—

He pulled again, but the effort sent a shock through his arm that spread down into his bruised chest, and suddenly he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. He curled up into a ball and cringed, whimpered to himself. No, no… He couldn't let them hear him whimpering; they'd never let it go. He couldn't. He couldn't. He just… He just had to hang in there and figure it out, and keep it all under control…

And just maybe he'd make it out of this, maybe, maybe out of some divine miracle he could move again and he could see the sun and sky—

He let his head fall forward, gasping as cold sweat rolled down his back. He forced a breath out through his nose, choking, whimpering and whispering slightly as a draft wafted into his cell and cloaked the silence that covered the sheltered, friendless world.

There was nothing left, nothing.

Zero had taken everything. Everything.

He couldn't. He couldn't.

Sometimes he imagined that he still had both arms… But then he would have both wrists chained to the wall, and both legs would still be covered in cuts and bruises and scars and rope burns and God knows what else, so it wouldn't really make much of a difference if he still had two arms because everything would still hurt all over—

Zero would find another way to take advantage of his body, or what was left of it. Zero would be there, as he always would be, and there would be nothing he, the prisoner, could do about it.

But…

No one knew where Zelda and Ribbon were. Maybe…

Maybe they were still alive. Maybe, in another life, they were still alive, and maybe that was _this_ life and they were all lucky after all.

Addie was gone. But, but…

This couldn't have been the end.

He bit down on his tongue as he straightened up, as he leaned his remaining left arm on the wall behind him for support. He'd hold out… For himself, sure. But…

For them.

And if they weren't alive anymore… If, somehow, they were dead and gone…

He'd do it all the same. He loved them, and…

Nothing could convince him of anything otherwise.

Footsteps slammed down the corridor and around the corner; his chest tightened. Whatever was coming next, whatever Zero had planned, he had to last through it. Every moment, every hour… he'd have to survive. He wouldn't give in.

Closing his eyes, he let his head loll forward and breathed as deeply as he could. Just, hang in there. You have no other options, no other reasons to live. Just, keep going, for them—

A bright light shone through his closed eyes; he heard the distinct popping sound of a busted, broken lock as it snapped open and clattered to the dusty, bloodied ground. The steps grew softer, gentle, and a soft clacking reached his ears.

The presence slowed and stopped at his side; he could barely hear its breathing. But he wouldn't yield. He wouldn't open his eyes, give this stranger more material to work with. Maybe he or she might tear out his eyes or burn more of his skin off… Maybe he would cut off the other leg, or trace more cuts down his chest, or electrocute him until he couldn't feel anything anywhere… But he wouldn't let them, he couldn't—

"Snake," someone whispered gently, "it's fine. Open your eyes."

Soft, tender fingers settled upon his ruined, shattered cheek. He pulled away. No matter how many times they hurt him, he wouldn't give in. He wouldn't let them—

"You… You're safe, with me. I… I wouldn't do anything if I could help it, ever."

His eyes, burning with the strain of keeping themselves closed, slowly opened. His eyelids twitched; his left hand strained and flexed slightly as he angled his head up. It hurt, it hurt and he could barely focus his eyes; everything was so blurry and it hurt to look at anything at all…

Through watering eyes, he saw Zelda staring down at him, the left side of her face still scarred and raised in a mass of burned tissue but no less familiar.

She gently kissed his forehead. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm so sorry, David... I don't, I didn't mean to leave you behind… Please… stay with us."

Snake let his neck grow limp, his eyes close again as Zelda set her palm to the chain around his left wrist. He couldn't. He couldn't. He was tired, so tired, and he could barely focus…

Zelda leaned over and got to work on his manacled right leg. Maybe it was a dream, maybe it was his imagination but he saw that Zelda was crying; her tears spilled over onto the floor, silently, softly as they gathered into a puddle.

He opened his mouth; it hurt horribly but he forced himself to speak. "It's… it's fine. Don't… worry."

"Snake… They took your arm, and gods know what else… You, you can't say it's fine. It's not. They need to be put down, all of them. They're all merciless demons, and… And this is too much. Snake. Please. Hang in there, stay here." Her voice cracked; she paused to snap open the chain around his left leg. "I can't… I can't let them get away with this."

He shook his head. "I'll… I'll be fine."

In reply, Zelda bent over and brought Snake up on his twisted, torn feet. She slung him over her shoulders and stumbled out of the cell, shaking. He could feel the cloth of her robes on his bare skin; he didn't want to bother her but it hurt… It hurt everywhere, and he couldn't do anything about it. He just couldn't. He couldn't.

"Zelda," he choked, "Addie's gone."

"I know," she said. "I figured as much. I… I almost thought you were, too. We were… we had given up, until she gave us a lead. I don't know how to explain it but I heard her and saw her as a ghost… You'll have to believe me."

"I do."

Zelda choked as her chest tightened. "But she's gone. They're all gone. We're the only ones left. Zero killed all of us, even those who were under his control. You and I… We're all that's left. There's… There's no one else to count on The only people we can count on are… are just us. You and me."

Zelda carried Snake out of the cell, struggling to steady her breathing. "Zero might be coming any minute now. We'll just try to pull back, recover, maybe try and come back from this, but we need to—"

She stopped talking mid-sentence and caught her breath. "I don't know what we'll do, Snake. They're all dead. All of them, but us."

Suddenly she gasped as a cavalcade of footsteps moved ever closer, shaking the ground and the ceiling as dust rained down upon their heads. When she turned the corner a horde of Dark Matter soldiers burst forward, hissing madly and screeching from underneath their helmets.

Zelda cast a column of towering flame at the soldiers as they scattered. One swordsman stumbled only to be consumed by the roaring flames that leapt out to grasp them. She ran by as the nameless curses and the wailing moans of the spirits faded behind her, as the flame she had once brought dearly to life breathed its last.

She stopped after countless corners and turns, holding her chest steady, Snake still draped around her shoulders as she embraced the cold iron wall that led her on. "Give me a moment. We'll be out soon." She bent over and gently settled Snake against the wall. "I need a breather, need to get some air."

With his left arm, Snake reached out to grasp Zelda's wrist. "D-Don't go yet… We need to… to kill him."

Zelda shook her head, bit her lower lip as she stared down at her feet. "We can't. We're… We're not strong enough, anymore. Neither of us are. Sorry. But, I… I don't want to die just yet. I know, it's, it's pathetic but I _want to live just a little bit longer_, and maybe then we'll have a chance…"

"Zelda…"

"We can't do this. We can't… and he'll find us, and there'll be no one else to help us out—"

Snake coughed up blood, his ribs aching, his lungs burning. His vision blurred, and when he could finally see again, he saw Zelda holding him steady. "Snake, hang in there. Please. We… We're all we have. I know… I know you never wanted this but we have no choice anymore; we can't pick and choose when to live or die anymore. Maybe we can try to escape, but I… I don't know if we will, if we'll even live long enough to try from here on out. I'm… I'm sorry. Maybe it's my fault they're all gone… I guess we can try to hide and recover for now but I don't… I don't know what to do—"

She buried her face in his shoulder, tears falling steadily. The unearthly, shrieking sobs that racked her chest burned, flared with untamed anger and sorrow and bitterness, and Snake felt something in his own chest crack, something that he'd managed to keep intact for so long, for the longest time, for his entire life—

This was too cruel. This was beyond cruel.

Zelda cried and cried and held Snake's left hand; she was shaking all over, and Snake was, too. He gripped her hand as tightly as he could, but he was blacking out, he knew it and he felt it in the back of his skull, in the bridge of his nose. He couldn't. He couldn't live. He couldn't get out of this. There was no way he could. Zero would find them, and maybe something else might happen along the way that would stop him.

Zero had already won, ever since he decided to take an arm from Snake, ever since he devoted every remaining part of himself to making Snake suffer. Maybe, if Zero hadn't done that they would have had a chance to fight back.

But it wouldn't matter, would it, because either way…

Their journey was over.

Snake tilted his head back and leaned against the wall as Zelda hugged him tightly. If only he still had his right arm. If only things had turned out for the better.

If only they hadn't failed.

He returned Zelda's hug with his left arm. "Sorry. I know… I know."

"We could have saved them, David. We could have done anything, everything to save them. And we didn't, we didn't because we didn't know any better and Zero knew that too. He knew that, and we're only proving his point. He knew, he knew from the start. He… he was smarter than us…"

He shook his head, grasped Zelda tighter with his left arm. "We'll prove him wrong."

"He's not wrong. He's not wrong, and we've been trying to escape the truth as soon as he showed it to us. We're nothing, Snake, not when he's in charge, and no matter how hard we try, he won't leave. We can't get him to. Just… look at how many times we've tried. Nothing. Nothing has happened, and we've managed to get everyone we know and love killed. That's all we've ever done. That's all we were ever good for. That's… That's it."

Snake shook his head once more, but he didn't have the strength to say anything anymore—

"And look at your eyes, just, he's… He won, he's finally won. He got to you, of all people… and if you can't fight back then why should we bother…?"

"Zelda—"

"And now that your eyes are red I don't know whether I can trust even _you_ anymore and everything is so, so confusing… Dave, I can't be of much help anymore, but I, we can try to come back from this, and I can try to start trusting you again…"

"What?"

"You left us," Zelda said, choking back tears. "You left us because you didn't want me to suffer or to worry because of Link, but… But you made me worry even more because we never saw you after that… And, and how do I know that you won't try that again? I can't… I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know."

There was a deep, uncomfortable silence between them. Neither of them had anything to say.

After a moment, Zelda rose to her feet, shakily, unsteadily as the earth quaked underneath them. She wiped her eyes, blew a deep breath through her lungs. "But… we can't stay here. We… we have to try, right…?"

Snake nodded, and reached out to grab Zelda's hand. She obliged and pulled him up.

"And where would you two be going?"

Zero stood facing them, his face turned in a canine snarl, in a bestial growl that made Zelda back up several paces.

"Who would dare to be this… this stubborn? Who else, but you?" The fallen angel snorted and grimaced, as if the mere sight of them made his skin curl, his stomach churn. "You… You need to stop. Now. You are the last ones left, and you've put up a nice illusion. You've tried and tried, and for what? What has it accomplished?"

He stalked ever closer. "Don't pretend that what you have done has amounted to anything. Your homes lie in ruins. Your friends lie buried in shallow graves, killed at last by you. You are weak, pitiful, and as worthless as the ground underneath my feet. I don't know how to put it. I've said all I could."

"Zero—"

"Yes, plead for your life, because I will listen. I will listen to the ramblings of beings lower than me. I will listen to those who pretend to speak the truth and have been bred upon lies. I will listen to those who think truth is everywhere only to crush their own dreams and the dreams where they walk. You will suffer, as I have. As I have fought with those who lie and trick and scheme, you will suffer the way I have."

Zero waved his hand, and a bolt of dark lightning struck Zelda in the chest.

She stumbled and let go of Snake. As she collapsed, her eyes fluttered shut; the gauntlet that sat proud upon her stump of an arm shattered into countless fragments.

Snake caught himself on the wall nearby as Zero stalked closer.

Zero slammed a fist into his face. Snake's neck snapped backward as Zero landed another kick into his rib cage. More blows piled against him, and he could barely breathe, he couldn't move—

He held his left arm up, trying to catch Zero's next punch but suddenly his arm was _broken_, it was broken and he heard himself yelling as he fell onto his side, as Zero kicked him in the nose once more and pummeled his side with more blows and kicks—

Zero was suddenly holding Zelda's sword, and he brought it back behind him, ready to swing—

He stabbed it forward, piercing through Snake's chest, bursting his heart.

Zero threw Snake's lifeless corpse to the side and dropped Zelda's sword. He moved past them and walked away without a sound, a spoken word.

He left their bodies behind.

XxX


End file.
